M13RARY 

OF  Tin: 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT    01 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 


Received  October, 
Accessions  No  .£'7ty-  (of-      Class  No. 


X  C£^-       . 


WINDINGS 


OF   THE 


BIVEE    OF    THE   WATER   OF  LIFE 


WINDINGS 


RIVER  OF  THE  WATER  OF  LIFE, 


IN      THE 


DEVELOPMENT, 

DISCIPLINE,  "TAND*FRUITS 


OF     FAITH. 


GEORGE   B.  CHEEVER,  D,D 
u 

"  Of  TH 

,,™^~ 
j% 


NEW    YORK: 

JOHN      WILEY,      161      BROADWAY 
J3    PATERNOSTER    ROW,    LONDON. 

1849. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

GEORGE  B.  CHEEVER,  D.D., 
Tn  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


R.    CRAIQHEAD,    PRINTER, 
112   FULTON    STREET,    NEW    YORK. 


T.    B.    SMITH,    STEREOTYPER, 
216   WILLIAM    STREET. 


PREFACE. 


IN  this  humble  attempt  to  jmite  the  speculative  and  the  practical 
on  the  subject  of  FaitlT^J  have  followed  no  theory,  but  have 
endeavored  to  trace  the  stream  of  Christian  experience,  as  it  is 
recorded  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  makes  its  appearance  in  the 
hearts  of  God's  people.  But  we  begin  the  stream  back  of  its  appear- 
ance as  a  River  of  Life,  even  there,  where  belief  exists,  as  a  con- 
stitutional element  of  our  being,  though  not  as  faith  in  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh.  Men  cannot  live  even  in  and  for  the  body  only, 
without  a  belief  in  something  above  the  body,  and  out  of  it.  We 
take  away  the  very  ground  under  the  feet  of  infidelity,  by  showing 
that  the  unbeliever,  even  in  not  believing,  has  to  throw  himself  upon 
belief,  and  has  to  be  a  more  credulous  soul  by  far,  than  the  man 
of  spiritual  Faith.  But  as  Thomas  ...Carlyle  somewhere  excellently 
says  (or  something  very  like  it),  the  credulity  of  unbelief  is  a  faith 
in  mere  inert  dead  masses,  with  a  blank  denial  or  blind  ignorance 
of  that  spiritual  lightning,  which  alone  can  set  things  on  fire.  And 
a  woful,  dead,  hopeless  age  it  is,  when  the  belief  in  spiritual  lightning 
has  gone,  and  there  is  nothing  deemed  real  but  the  five  senses. 

The  union  of  Grace  and  Truth  is  only  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  Faith 
is  the  manifestation,  not  of  human  power,  but  of  Christ  himself  in 
the  mind,  Christ  in  the  heart,  Christ  in  the  life,  and  Christ  in  the 
soul,  the  hope  of  glory.  Paith  is  a  life,  not  a  speculation ;  it  is  a 
life,  and  not  a  mere  emotion  in  regard  to  the  Author  of  life.  I 
£ave  endeavored  to  trace  its  workings,  its  forms,  its  results,  its 
various  developments,  for  the  ministry  of  the  life  of  a  practical  piety, 
in  Christians  who,  like  Paul,  count  not  themselves  to  have  attained, 
but  would  be  pressing  forward.  May  the  Divine  blessing  accompany 
the  effort ! 


CONTENTS, 


PAKT  FIRST. 

CHRIST       IN       THE       MIND. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

Beginnings  of  the  River. — Poverty  of  truth  without  life. — Grace  and 
truth  combined  only  in  Christ. — Mistakes  of  mere  head-work  without 
heart-work 3 

CHAPTER   II. 

Coloring  of  Truth  through  the  prism  of  individual  experience. — Grace  a 
winding  River,  and  a  free,  original,  unconstrained  life. — Danger  of 
making  press-gangs  out  of  human  theories  and  hypotheses. — The  law 
within  and  the  law  without. — Light  within  and  light  without. — 
Heart-light  and  intellectual  light,  and  God's  prerogative  in  regard 
to  them 10 

CHAPTER    III. 

Faith  here,  a  discipline  preparatory  to  knowledge  and  faith  here- 
after.— Passage  of  faith  into  knowledge  and  life. — Faith  in  the  testi- 
mony of  God  becoming  experience. — The  life  of  heaven  a  life  of 
faith. — The  extreme  credulity  of  unbelief. — Necessity  of  faith  in  evil 
as  well  as  good. — Impossibility  of  escaping  from  the  evil,  except  by 
believing  God's  testimony  in  regard  to  it 16 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

PAGE 

Faith  followed  by  the  Earnest  of  the  Spirit. — The  distinction  between 
Faith,  Knowledge,  and  Experience. — Neither  Faith  nor  Experience 
possible,  if  Experience  be  demanded  first. — Reproductive  power  of 
Faith,  and  its  reduplicating  processes  of  growth.-i-Connexion  between 
the  Earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Church,  and  the  conversion  of  souls 
from  the  world .  .  27 

CHAPTER   V. 

Effect  of  unbelief  upon  the  Character. — Illustrations  of  unbelief  in  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees. — Absolute  necessity  of  relying  on  God's 
testimony. — Purpose  for  which  that  testimony  was  given,  that  by 
faith  we  may  avoid  the  experience  of  evil,  and  secure  the  experience 
of  good. — Comparison  of  the  experiment  of  faith,  and  the  experi- 
ment of  experience. — Faith  alone  can  lead  the  soul  to  heaven ; 
experience  alone  leads  it  down  to  hell 39 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Sympathy  with  God  and  sympathy  with  man. — Faith  in  God's  Word, 
faith  in  God's  holiness  and  justice,  and  faith  in  man's  guilt,  the 
elements  of  power  in  leading  the  Soul  to  faith  in  Christ  the  Saviour. — 
Comparison  of  Edwards  and  Whitefield. — Comparison  of  revivals  of 
religion  as  produced  mainly  by  true  sympathy  with  God,  and  a 
regard  to  his  glory,  or  mainly  by  sympathy  with  man  and  the  desire 
of  salvation  , 49 


PART   SECOND. 

CHRIST       IN       THE       AFFECTIONS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Schoolmaster  and  the  Father.— The  Servant  and  the  Child.— Faith 
produced  by  the  combustion  of  God's  promises  with  man's  sins  .         .       63 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

God's  method  of  discipline. — Faith  an  element  of  character  for  deve- 
lopment and  growth. — A  reward  of  Faith  in  the  habit  of  Faith         .       75 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PAGE 

The  germ  and  the  blade  under  discipline  for  the  harvest. — Contrast  and 
variety  of  spiritual  experiences 85 

CHAPTER  X. 

Individuality  and  independence. — God  in  man,  not  man  reduplicated. — 
Entire  dependence  God-ward,  entire  independence  and  originality, 
man-ward. — Helps  from  Christian  biographies. — Supremacy  and 
power  of  Christ's  example  t ...  ... ...  .-.  •-.-,-;,  -  ,,,^  V\f-**,  .  •  98 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Counterfeit  Bills. — The  religion  of  imitation,  not  experience. — Faith 
trembling  and  self-distrustful,  unbelief  presuming  and  self-confident  .  108 

CHAPTER   XII. 

Counterfeit  Bills  continued. — Formalism  and  Faith,  Pride  and  Contrition 
in  contrast. — The  power  of  the  element  of  self-despair  .  .  .  120 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Faith  guided  of  God. — Unbelief  left  to  itself. — The  separating  pillar. — 
Sunshine  and  darkness  in  the  same  dispensation. — The  source  of 
infidelity 130 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  trials  of  faith. — Trials  of  character,  and  trials  to  mend  character. — 
Inward  and  external  trials. — Christian  sympathy  ....  146 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Faith  still  put  to  the  test. — Is  it  faith  in  sight,  or  faith  in  God  ? — Three 
days  in  the  wilderness. — Light  out  of  darkness,  strength  out  of  weak- 
ness.— The  discovery  of  God  in  self-disappointment  and  abasement  .  154 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

Faith  an  in-working  law,  with  the  obedience  voluntary  ;  not  a  despot- 
ism, with  the  obedience  compulsory  or  irresistible. — God  working  in 
man  both  to  will  and  to  do. — Deceitfulness  and  danger  of  the  idea  of 
perfection  attained  .  .  .  .IV  ••  V  '*  »•••  /*;'=>•  ..  *  166 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

Faith  working  by  Love. — Assurance  not  an  attainment,  but  a  result. — » 
Not  a  direct  gift,  but  the  consequence  of  Christ  in  the  affections. — 
Not  a  direct  duty,  but  the  companion  of  duty,  and  its  after-part  .  179 


CONTENTS. 

PART  THIRD. 

CHRIST      IN       THE       IflFE 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PAQK 

Illustrations  of  the  Life  of  Faith  in  Christ's  Apostles.— The  Life  of 
Faith  a  Missionary  Spirit  at  the  very  outset,  and  a  life  of  Love  con- 
tinued   195 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

The  calling  of  Philip,  and  Philip's  work  upon  Nathaniel. — The  social 
power  and  impulse  of  Christianity. — Desirableness  of  Love  to  Christ 
as  the  reigning  feature  in  the  character 209 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Philip  and  Nathaniel. — The  voice  of  the  Gospel  and  of  Faith,  Come 
and  See ! 222 

CHAPTER   XXI. 
The  Creed  of  Doubt 236 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  Creed  of  Faith 248 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Reproof  of  Mercy 260 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Justification  by  Faith,  and  obedience  after  it. — The  Law  of  the  Spirit 
of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus 272 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

The  Cross  daily. — The  Morality  of  Faith  the  only  true  and  constant 
Morality. — Faith  the  element  of  power  in  Prayer  ....  286 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Faith,  the  element  of  power  in  Prayer. — Imaginary  Prayer. — Dreaming 
of  flying. — Wandering  thoughts  in  Prayer. — The  incalculable  im- 
portance of  right  habits,  as  fixtures  of  the  soul  in  Prayer  .  .  .  299 


CONTENTS. 

PART  FOURTH. 

CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE   HOPE   OP   GLORY. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

PAOR 

Christ  the  Light  of  the  Soul. — In  this  world,  partial,  as  through  a  glass 
darkly.  In  the  Celestial  world,  supreme,  entire,  unmingled,  univer- 
sal.— The  single  eye,  and  the  Spiritual  body 313 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

The  Vision  of  Faith  continued. — Spiritual  discernment  only  from  God. — 
The  natural  man  and  the  Spiritual  man,  the  blind  man  and  the  seeing  323 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Faith's  Vision  continued. — Spiritual  discernment  and  Spiritual  insen- 
sibility both  illustrated  by  the  Transfiguration 334 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Faith's  Vision  continued. — Faith  passing  into  Love. — Self  put  out  by 
letting  Christ  in. — Object  of  the  appeals  to  Self  in  the  Gospel  .  .  344 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Justification  by  Faith. — The  religion  of  Faith  and  the  system  of 
Works  delineated. — Faith  producing  Works. — Justification  followed 
by  glorification 355 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Glorification  completed. — Heaven  a  perfect  state,  both  relatively  and 
absolutely,  but  such  perfectness  not  attained  this  side  of  Heaven. — 
And  in  Heaven  itself,  all  perfection  is  in  and  of  Christ. — Conclusion 
of  the  Windings  of  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life  .  .  .  .372 


DEVELOPMENT,    DISCIPLINE, 

AND 

FRUITS    OF   FAITH. 

PART  FIRST. 

GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 
CHRIST     IN     THE     MIND. 


WINDINGS    OF    THE    RIVER 


OF   THE 


WATEB    OF   LIFE. 


CHAPTER     I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Beginnings  of  the  River. — Poverty  of  truth  without  life. — Grace  and  truth 
combined  only  in  Christ. — Mistakes  of  mere  head-work  without  heart- 
work. 

DOES  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life  go  into  the  mind  first, 
and  into  the  heart  through  the  mind,  or  into  the  mind 
through  the  heart  ?  Grecian,  Jewish,  and  Saxon  philoso- 
phers, so  called,  might  laugh  at  this  question,  as  if  it  were 
very  easily  answered ;  for  they  think  that  truth  alone  con- 
stitutes life,  truth  according  to  their  seeing ;  and  that  all 
truth  is  addressed  only  to  the  understanding.  But  truth 
alone,  truth  left  to  itself,  is  not  the  River  of  the  Water  of 
Life  to  sinful  beings  ;  but  if  they  be  left  to  themselves,  and 
the  truth  left  to  itself  and  to  their  reception  of  it,  it  is  a 
river  of  death.  The  Law  of  God  is  truth  without  mixture  ; 
but  to  sinful  beings  it  is  not  a  river  of  life ;  without  grace 
it  worketh  death.  The  Law  was  given  by  Moses,  but 
Grace  and  Truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  and  Truth 
together,  and  that  only,  is  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life, 
clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and 
of  the  Lamb.  Grace  and  Truth,  from  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb. 


4  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

All  truth  is  addressed  to  the  understanding ;  but  if  men 
"  walk  in  the  vanity  of  their  mind,  having  the  understand- 
ing darkened,  being  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through 
the  ignorance  that  is  in  them  because  of  the  blindness  of 
their  hearts,"  then  the  process  of  enlightenment,  the 
process  of  cure,  must  begin  with  the  heart.  In  this  sense 
the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life  runs  into  the  heart  first, 
from  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  and  then  into 
the  mind  ;  and  the  mind  is  enlightened  only  in  proportion 
as  the  heart  is  cleansed.  Hence  the  prayer  of  the  Psalmist, 
Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God  !  and  the  prayer  of  the 
Apostle,  "  That  the  God  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father 
of  glory,  may  give  unto  you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  reve- 
lation in  the  knowledge  of  Him  ;  the  eyes  of  you?'  under- 
standing being  enlightened."  The  eyes  of  the  understanding, 
in  spiritual  things,  are  right  affections  and  a  believing  heart. 
This  is  that  single  eye,  with  which  the  whole  body  shall 
be  full  of  light.  Full  of  light,  because  there  is  life-light  in 
the  heart.  It  is  not  simple  intention  merely,  but  a  heart 
purified  by  faith.  A  single  eye,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  is 
no  great  wonder.  A  man  may  have  a  single  eye,  it  is  well 
said,  by  putting  one  eye  out,  or  keeping  one  eye  shut ;  and 
in  this  way  men  full  of  prejudice  and  blindness  often  think 
they  have  a  single  eye.  In  this  way  even  an  Atheist  may 
have  a  single  eye,  putting  one  eye  out  entirely,  and  looking 
with  the  other  straight  forward  into  darkness.  But  the 
true  single  eye  is  where  both  eyes  look  out  from  a  single 
heart,  purified  by  faith ;  looking  together,  and  looking  to 
God,  and  looking  in  God's  light. 

And  so  again  the  Apostle  prays  to  be  "  strengthened 
with  might  by  God's  Spirit  in  the  inner  man  that  Christ 
may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith,  that  ye,  being  rooted  and 
grounded  in  love,  may  be  able  to  comprehend."  So  it  is 
plain  that  love  is  the  source  and  ground  of  comprehending — • 
of  understanding.  Right  affections  are  the  opening  of  the 
eyes  of  the  understanding,  the  removal  of  the  blindness  of  the 
heart,  and  then  and  thus  light  pours  into  the  mind.  "  The 


^  CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  5 

entrance  of  thy  words  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding 
to  the  simple." 

In  HIM  was  Life,  and  the  Life  was  the  light  of  men.  The 
Life  was  the  light,  not  the  light  was  the  life.  The  law 
given  by  Moses  was  light,  but  it  was  not  life.  In  Him, 
in  Christ  was  the  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light.  Truth 
discloses  sin,  but  cannot  cure  it.  God's  law  shines  upon  it, 
but  only  to  forbid  and  condemn  it.  The  light  alone  cannot 
remove  the  deformed  objects  it  shines  upon,  but  there  must 
be  another  hand,  another  power,  another  influence.  There 
must  be  a  life  at  work  within,  as  well  as  a  light  shining  upon. 

For  this  reason  it  is  that  that  remarkable  expression  is 
used  to  signify  regenerated  persons,  Children  of  Light. 
Children ;  it  is  a  filial,  affectionate,  obedient  relationship 
to  the  light  as  life,  a  confiding,  childlike  life  in  it.  Children 
of  light,  not  mere  servants  or  slaves.  The  servant  abideth 
not  in  the  house  for  ever,  but  the  Son  abideth  ever.  The 
mind  without  the  heart  may  be  a  slave  of  light,  but  the 
heart  only  can  be  a  child  of  light.  The  mind  filled  with 
light  may  be  a  convict,  condemned  to  work  at  the  galleys ; 
but  the  regenerated  heart  filled  with  light  is  a  free,  gentle, 
loving  child.  And  so,  for  all  gracious  truth,  all  true 
liberty,  all  true  life,  the  mind  must  come,  just  like  a  little 
child,  to  Christ.  For  truth,  the  mind  may  go  to  a  great 
many  sources,  and  may  gather  many  kinds  of  truth ;  but 
for  grace  and  truth  it  can  go  only  to  Jesus  Christ ;  it  can 
find  that  combination  nowhere  else. 

Let  men  therefore  beware  of  thinking  to  work  out  their 
own  salvation  by  the  truth  only,  or  the  head  only,  or  by 
speculative  knowledge,  or  by  the  prayer-book  only,  or  by 
external  rites.  The  salvation  of  the  soul  will  not  come, 
revivals  of  religion  will  not  come,  except  by  grace  and 
truth,  and  they  come  only  by  Jesus  Christ.  And  whoever 
undertakes  to  produce  them  in  any  other  way  than  by 
going  to  him,  will  be  found  very  much  in  the  predicament 
of  those  seven  sons  of  one  Sceva  a  Jew  and  Chief  Priest, 
who  took  upon  themselves  to  call  over  those  who  had  evil 


6  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

spirits,  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  the  name  only,  but 
neither  grace  nor  truth ;  and  the  man  in  whom  the  evil 
spirit  dwelt  leaped  upon  them  and  beat  them,  so  that  they 
fled  out  of  the  house  naked  and  wrounded.  Such,  sooner 
or  later,  must  be  the  result  of  all  efforts,  either  upon  our- 
selves or  others,  made  by  mere  names  and  ceremonies, 
without  a  heart  acquaintance  with  Christ,  and  a  humble, 
contrite  application  to  him  for  grace  and  truth. 

Truth,  alone,  is  mere  head-work,  grace  is  heart-work. 
Truth  in  the  head  alone,  turns  into  error ;  it  becomes 
vermiculate,  as  Lord  Bacon  once  said  of  the  wit  of  man 
exercised  upon  mere  speculation ;  it  breeds  worms,  and 
men  spin  it  into  brain-cobwebs  of  their  own  fancies. 
Men  by  the  head,  take  truth  which  was  meant  for  the 
heart,  and  which  must  be  baptized  into  the  heart,  along 
with  grace,  and  the  heart  into  it,  before  it  would  be  sal- 
vation, and  absolutely  pervert  it  into  falsehood  by  using  it 
apart  from  its  meaning  and  intent.  They  take  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  for  example,  which  is  really 
heart-truth,  and  heart-affecting  truth,  and  was  meant 
eminently  for  the  heart's  good,  and  which,  as  a  rite,  is 
the  heart's  language  of  loving  remembrance  towards  the 
Blessed  Saviour,  and  the  Saviour's  assurance  of  never- 
ceasing  love  to  his  disciples,  and  they  work  at  it  and  by 
it  with  the  head  only ;  they  assert  and  reason  themselves 
into  regeneration  by  it  ;  they  eat  it,  and  say  they  are 
saved  by  the  ordinance  ;  and  a  man  who  believes  himself 
saved  by  an  external  ordinance,  or  is  persuaded  that  he 
receives  the  Spirit  of  God  by  an  external  ordinance,  with- 
out the  heart,  is  not  likely  to  take  much  other  trouble  to 
gain  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  is  not  likely,  either,  to  inquire 
very  particularly  into  the  need  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the 
heart,  or  to  make  regeneration  a  heart-work  in  any  way. 
So  this  truth  is  made  a  lie,  by  working  at  it  with  the  head 
only,  without  the  heart.  We  might  show,  indeed,  how 
multitudes  of  monstrous,  misshapen  errors  have  come 
about  in  the  same  way. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  7 

We  say  of  a  ship,  ill-constructed,  that  she  is  too  much 
by  the  head ;  she  ploughs  into  the  waves,  instead  of  flying 
over  them,  and  making  them  the  means  of  her  progress  : 
so  men  who  carry  truth  by  the  head  knock  their  heads 
against  it,  instead  of  using  it  for  heart-life,  and  for 
onward  progress.  Such  men  put  forms  for  realities,  and 
change  realities  into  mere  forms.  They  take,  for  example, 
the  truth  of  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  was 
meant  for  the  heart,  and  is  nothing  without  the  heart,  and 
put  it  into  the  form  of  baptism,  and  go  at  it  by  the  head, 
saying,  that  men  are  regenerated  by  baptism,  and  that 
baptism  is  regeneration.  They  take  the  truth  of  baptism, 
also,  which  is  nothing  without  the  heart,  and  was  meant 
for  the  heart  to  be  put  into,  and  which  is  like  an  outward 
case  to  be  put  round  a  picture  that  God  himself  is  painting, 
and  by  head-work  only  they  put  baptism  itself  in  the  place 
of  that  which  it  merely  signifies,  in  the  place  and  stead  of 
regeneration  in  the  heart.  So  men  come  to  man  to  do 
that  for  them  which  God  only  can  do.  Suppose  that  men 
should  be  so  utterly  deluded  as  to  resort  to  a  man  profess- 
ing the  ability  to  produce  perfect  miniatures,  but  giving 
instead  thereof  merely  the  outside  morocco  cases  ;  and 
suppose  they  should  accept  the  empty  cases  and  carry 
them  home  on  the  faith  of  the  man's  assurance  (inasmuch 
as  he  received  his  commission  for  painting  in  a  direct  line 
from  Titian),  that  when  they  get  home  they  shall  find  the 
pictures  inside  ;  we  should  look  upon  that  as  a  very 
strange  delusion.  Yet  in  spiritual  things,  many  take  the 
cases,  and  comfort  themselves  with  the  assurance  that 
they  have  the  pictures ;  and  they  lay  them  away  carefully, 
but  never  look  inside  to  see  whether  they  are  not  dis- 
appointed. Poor  Ignorance  fumbled  for  his  roll  of  assur- 
ance at  the  Gate  of  the  Celestial  City,  but  found  it  not ! 

Thus  more  head-work  makes  absolute  error  out  of  heart- 
truth.  It  is  so  in  innumerable  cases.  Prayer  itself  may 
be  turned  from  truth  into  error,  and  always  is,  when  it  is 
resorted  to  and  relied  upon  by  the  head  without  the  heart. 


8  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

It  is  truth  resorted  to  without  grace.  A  man  must  bring 
his  heart  to  Christ,  for  truth  and  grace  to  be  put  into  it, 
and  not  stand  tinkering  upon  it  himself  by  truth  only,  or 
by  Moses  instead  of  Christ.  Moses  land  morality  are 
good,  if  they  lead  to  Christ.  Moses  commanding  morality 
is  good,  as  the  Schoolmaster,  to  teach  a  man  his  own  sin- 
fulness,  his  utter  destitution  of  all  that  can  make  any 
pretence  to  morality,  and  his  need  of  Christ ;  but  that  is 
all  Moses  can  do.  And  if,  instead  of  learning  of  Moses 
their  need  of  grace  and  truth,  and  coming  to  Christ  for  it, 
men  work  with  Moses  and  truth  only,  it  is  just  using  truth 
with  the  head  merely,  and  not  the  heart,  and  so  it  proves 
error,  or  at  the  best,  mere  condemnation.  Such  will  the 
truth  always  be  to  sinful  men,  separated  from  grace  and 
without  it. 

There  are  fabrics  of  our  food,  which  have  to  pass 
through  certain  processes  to  become  wholesome,  and 
taken  without  those  processes,  may  be  absolute  poisons. 
There  are  fabrics  in  the  arts  for  our  clothing,  which  have 
to  pass  through  certain  mediums  or  processes  before  they 
are  fit  for  use,  and  which,  if  men  take  them  without  those 
processes,  are  slazy  and  worthless.  So  it  is  with  forms  of 
truth  belonging  to  the  heart,  and  of  heart-manufacture  by 
grace,  when  men  attempt  empirically  to  lay  hold  upon 
them,  and  pronounce  names  over  them,  and  use  them  in 
the  raw,  without  those  heart  processes.  They  may  be 
deemed  valuable,  but  they  are  worthless.  They  may  be 
relied  upon  for  salvation,  but  dead  or  perverted  truth  is 
no  better  for  salvation  than  positive  unmingled  error.  It 
is  just  as  if  a  man  going  to  sea,  should  provide  his  ship 
with  a  quantity  of  unspun  hemp  instead  of  cables,  and 
having  pronounced  the  word  cables  over  it,  should  confi- 
dently set  sail,  insisting  that  the  heap  of  raw  hemp  was 
cable  enough,  and  would  hold  the  ship,  if  kept  beneath  the 
hatches  :  so  miserably  mad  and  deluded  are  men  who 
rely  upon  forms,  without  God's  grace  in  the  heart,  in  the 
affections.  There  are  those  who,  in  times  of  spiritual 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  9 

danger,  run  to  forms  instead  of  Christ,  as  if  a  return  to 
form,  or  a  clinging  to  form,  would  save  them.  A  delusion 
not  unlike  that  of  those  who,  in  a  case  of  fire,  will 
throw  a  looking-glass  out  of  the  window,  and  carry  an 
andiron  carefully  down  stairs. 

Even  where  external  forms  seem  not  to  be  trusted  in, 
nor  mere  external  morality,  there  may  be  a  formalism  of 
the  heart,  and  a  trusting  to  Moses  there  without  grace,  or 
to  truth  there  without  Christ.  And  truth  without  Christ 
is  as  poor  as  forms  without  truth.  We  may  sometimes 
see  serious-minded  men  pounding  upon  their  own  hearts 
with  prayer  and  with  the  truth,  away  from  Christ,  and 
wondering  that  still  nothing  is  returned  but  the  ring  of 
empty  metal.  They  do  not  pound  very  earnestly,  for  if 
they  did,  like  Luther,  for  example,  in  his  time  of  delusions, 
they  would  soon  find  the  vanity  of  such  mere  pronuncia- 
mentos  away  from  Christ.  But  they  work  just  enough 
to  half  satisfy  conscience,  and  keep  themselves  from  that 
self-despair  which  might  lead  to  Christ.  It  may,  perhaps, 
be  asked,  What  can  a  man  do,  otherwise  than  go  to  the 
Word  of  God  and  prayer  ?  He  can  go  to  Christ.  That 
is  what  he  can  do,  and  must  do,  and  that  is  his  whole 
duty.  But  is  not  my  Word  (does  not  God  say  ?)  like  the 
fire  and  hammer,  to  break  the  rock  in  pieces  ?  Indeed 
it  is,  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  the  hands  of 
Christ ;  but  if  you  stay  away  from  Christ,  and  think 
to  do  the  work  yourself  before  coming  to  him,  you  may 
stay  pounding  till  you  die,  and  no  good  will  come  of  it. 
Take  the  hammer  and  the  fire,  and  your  heart  also,  and 
carry  them  to  Christ. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Coloring  of  Truth  through  the  prism  of  individual  experience. — Grace  a 
winding  River,  and  a  free,  original,  unconstrained  life. — Danger  of 
making  press-gangs  out  of  human  theories  and  hypotheses. — The  law 
within  and  the  law  without. — Light  within  and  light  without. — Heart- 
light  and  intellectual  light,  and  God's  prerogative  in  regard  to  them. 

THE  stream  of  truth,  running  into  the  heart  and  mind, 
or  through  the  heart  into  the  mind,  will  also  be  colored, 
more  or  less,  by  the  individual's  own  experience ;  a  thing 
in  regard  to  which  each  for  himself,  and  all  for  each,  must 
be  upon  their  guard.  If  not,  how  can  any  one  know  that 
his  peculiar  views,  which  he  may  have  regarded  as  the 
result  of  great  knowledge  or  originality,  are  not  owing 
merely  to  a  defective  experience  ?  It  is  very  certain 
that  the  purer,  the  truer,  and  deeper  a  soul's  religious 
experience  becomes,  and  the  more  a  man  distrusts  and 
abases  self,  and  clings  solely  to  God  and  his  Word, 
exalting  them,  the  more  sure  and  trustworthy  and  full 
of  truth  will  be  that  soul's  views  of  religious  doctrine. 
He  who  exalts  the  Word,  the  Word  will  exalt  him  ;  but 
he  who  neglects  or  disesteems  the  Word,  will  himself  go 
down  in  proportion.  It  is  surprising  what  an  invigorating 
and  expanding  power  a  great  faith  in  God's  Word  exerts 
upon  the  mind  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  a  weak  faith  in 
God's  Word  leads  to  weakness,  in  doubt,  self-confidence, 
and  dependence  upon  men. 

Hence,  among  the  questions  to  be  asked  concerning  a 
propounder   of   new  things  are  these  :    Has    he  a  deep 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  11 

experience  of  the  Divine  Life  ?  Is  he  known  as  main- 
taining a  close  walk  with  God  ?  Is  he  a  soul  of  much  prayer, 
much  communion  with  Christ,  living,-  by  faith,  upon  God's 
Word,  received  as  God's,  not  man's  ?  It  is  certain  that 
none  but  such  souls  are  qualified  to  be  guides  in  untried 
paths.  Hence  the  writing  of  the  books  of  inspiration  was 
committed  only  to  those,  whom  God  had  trained  to  great 
heights  of  attainment  in  holiness.  If  it  ha.d  not  been  so, 
where  would  have  been,  or  what  would  have  been,  our 
volume  of  inspiration  ?  If  only  an  ordinary  Christian 
had  had  the  writing  of  the  Epistles,  what  a  poor  and  low 
exhibition  of  Christian  experience  would  we  have  had, 
instead  of  the  glowing  and  lofty  experience  of  Paul,  Peter, 
and  John  ;  what  a  defective  or  excrescential  or  one-sided 
exhibition,  in  personal  hobbies  of  doctrine  ridden  upon  out 
of  vanity,  like  the  shows  of  horsemanship  in  a  circus, 
instead  of  simple  gospel  truth,  displayed  for  God's  glory. 

This  River  of  grace  in  the  heart  of  man  runs  not  in  an 
artificial  channel,  but  is  a  windir%  stream,  going  hither  and 
thither  at  God's  will,  not  man's.  Men  may  attempt  to 
dyke  it  in,  and  keep  it  strait  and  elaborate,  according  to 
their  own  mathematical  surveying  of  the  ground,  but  it 
follows  no  human  arrangement  or  analysis,  but  takes  its 
own  way.  And  a  much  sweeter,  lovelier  way  it  is,  than 
men's  metaphysics  would  often  appoint  for  it,  or  than  any 
human  heart-geographer  ever  traces  for  it  in  his  map,  when, 
wishing  to  have  all  things  very  accurate,  and  according  to 
some  pretended  invariable  model  or  rule,  he  draws  his  line 
and  says,  this  course  the  river  of  grace  always  pursues. 
Doubtless,  there  has  been  too  much  pursuing  of  this  river 
by  maps,  after  certain  old  surveys  by  others,  taken  for 
complete  and  accurate,  instead  of  going  anew  to  the  foun- 
tain head  in  God's  word,  and  thence  following  the  stream 
through  valley  and  meadow,  woodland  and  green  pastures. 

The  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  works  va- 
rious forms  of  fruit  and  beauty  in  the  character  of  life, 
almost  infinitely  various,  yet  all  the  work  of  the  self-same 


12  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will.  The 
work  of  faith,  the  life  of  faith,  the  law  of  faith,  is  not  a 
work,  or  life,  or  law,  of  human  metaphysics  or  monotony ; 
but  of  infinite  grace,  wisdom,  and  variefy.  It  is  a  mistake 
indeed,  to  take  one  character,  and  analyse  .the  law  and 
proceedings  of  faith  from  that,  and  make  a  rule  out  of  it, 
and  carpenter-like  proceed  to  regulate  every  other  character 
accordingly.  The  work  of  grace  is  a  free,  original  life, 
after  an  inward  law. 

An  external  law  indeed  it  is,  as  God's  law  ;  but  that  law, 
from  being  merely  external,  becomes  an  inward  law  of 
life,  an  in- working  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 
While  God's  law  is  merely  without  a  man,  outside  of  him, 
he  is  outside  of  it,  and  it  acts  no  otherwise  upon  him,  if  it 
acts  at  all,  than  as  a  man  acts  upon  a  clock  who  stands  out- 
side of  it  and  turns  the  hands  according  to  the  town-time, 
its  own  mainspring  being  broken.  But  when  the  maker 
of  the  clock  comes  and  puts  it  inwardly  to  rights,  he  puts,  as 
it  were,  the  principle  and  law  of  the  external  time  within 
the  heart  of  it,  and  then  it  goes  freely  of  itself,  and  keeps 
time  without  any  need  of  a  man  standing  beside  it,  with  a 
law  of  the  town-clock  by  the  sun,  to  turn  its  hands.  Hence 
God  says  that  when  the  time  of  the  free  dispensation  of 
his  spirit  comes,  he  will  write  his  law  in  men's  hearts,  and 
hence  David  says,  "  Thy  law  have  I  hid  in  my  heart,  that 
I  might  not  sin  against  thee ;"  and  he  prays  the  same  thing 
in  various  forms.  He  did  not  think  it  enough  to  study 
God's  law  with  his  eyes,  but  he  must  hide  it  within  his 
heart,  to  work,  as  a  law,  there ;  and  so,  by  governing  his 
affections  and  thoughts,  or  rather  inspiring  them,  or  as 
a  fountain  bubbling  up  with  them  from  the  bottom,  it 
would  govern  his  life,  running  with  the  winding  stream  of 
his  thoughts  and  affections  everywhere. 

The  Trees  of  Righteousness,  the  planting  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  might  be  glorified,  are  of  an  endless  attractiveness 
and  beauty  in  their  variety.  But  you  are  not  to  compel 
them  all  into  one  form  or  manner  of  verdure  and  foliage, 


CHRIST    IN    THE     MIND.  13 

any  more  than  you  are  to  order  all  the  trees  of  the  world 
into  the  shape  of  oaks  or  elms.  Men  are  sometimes,  in 
their  workings  upon  the  plants  of  divine  grace,  like 
Chinese  farmers,  or  like  the  caterers  to  royal  tastes  in 
Versailles  gardens  ;  they  will  cut  the  foliage  of  nature  into 
squares,  pyramids,  and  triangles,  or  will  let  nothing  grow 
that  is  not  planted  in  straight  lines.  There  has  been  much 
tendency  to  such  kind  of  surveying  and  regulation.  Man 
shows  his  original  self-will  even  in  his  application  of  God's 
word,  which  he  has  an  inveterate,  unconquerable  disposi- 
tion to  order  exactly  after  his  own  theory  and  experience. 
If  he  has  a  striking  original  experience  in  himself,  he  will 
take  that ;  or  if  a  remarkable  original  experience  in  another 
shall  powerfully  arrest  his  admiration  and  square  with  his 
own  metaphysics,  he  will  take  that.  Whatever  is  adopted 
and  made  the  child  of  self-love,  is  petted  and  spoiled  by 
over-indulgence.  In  this  way  very  good  things  may 
become  injurious ;  very  healthful  developments  may  be 
cankered  into  excrescences ;  very  harmless  single  instances 
or  exceptions  may  be  exalted  into  dangerous  precedents 
and  rules.  In  order  to  make  a  pate  de  foie  de  Strasburg 
for  spiritual  epicures,  many  will  take  a  favorite  theory  and 
sow  up  its  eyes,  and  stuff  it,  and  will  do  this  with  every 
truth  they  can  lay  hold  of.  The  truths  both  of  nature  and 
of  God's  word  too  often  fare  with  theorizers,  as  poor  un- 
protected laborers,  when  they  meet  with  press-gangs  for  a 
man-of-war ;  a  poor  peasant  with  his  spade  finds  himself 
suddenly  and  violently  transmuted  into  a  sailor. 

But  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  always  will ; 
and  the  river  runneth  and  windeth  where  it  listeth,  and 
always  will ;  and  the  Trees  of  Life  will  always  bear  at 
least  twelve  manner  of  fruits  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
There  always  will  be  more  things  than  are  dreamed  of  in 
our  philosophy.  As  we  are  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made  in  mind  and  body,  so  that  no  man  can  fathom  God's 
wisdom,  either  in  the  one  or  the  other,  nor  can  possibly 
tell  how  they  are  linked  together,  so  are  we  fearfully  and 


14  GRACE     AND    TRUTH, 

wonderfully  made  in  the  new  creation  by  the  Spirit. 
Thou  knowest  not  the  works  of  God,  who  maketh  all. 
"Marvellous  are  thy  works,"  says  David,  and  that  my 
soul  knoweth  right  well ;  but  very  littler  else  beside  that  do 
I  know  right  well,  at  all.  Curiously  wrought  are  we,  and 
precious  are  God's  thoughts  unto  us,  and  so  great  is  the 
sum  of  them,  that  if  we  should  count  them,  they  are  more 
in  number  than  the  sand.  Let  a  man  stand  upon  the  sea 
shore  and  begin  the  work  of  counting ;  let  him  try  that 
first,  before  he  puts  the  line  of  his  arithmetic  down  into 
the  deeps  of  God's  thoughts,  with  the  vanity  of  making  a 
rule  for  others. 

Then,  too,  as  we  have  seen,  the  River  of  the  Water  of 
Life  runs  through  the  heart,  not  the  mind  merely;  and, 
little  as  a  man  knows  of  a  man's  mind,  yet  he  can  fathom 
that  much  more  easily  than  he  can  a  man's  heart.  "  Who 
can  know  it?  I  the  Lord."  Yea,  and  it  is  the  Lord  only 
that  knoweth  how  to  gather  up  into  his  own  bosom  all  the 
reins  of  our  affections.  As  a  charioteer,  he  bindeth  them 
about  his  arm,  and  guideth  us  at  pleasure.  We  have 
heard  of  a  man  preaching  upon  the  text,  "Marvel  not," 
&c.,  and  proving  from  it,  or  rather  forcing  upon  it,  the  lie, 
that  there  was  nothing  very  marvellous  in  the  work  of 
regeneration !  A  man  who  could  see  the  wind  might,  per- 
haps, see  such  a  conclusion,  and  come  honestly  by  it. 
Men  who  pride  themselves  much  upon  their  knowledge  of 
the  human  heart  are  very  apt  to  have  confounded  a  little 
knowledge  of  the  workings  of  the  mind  with  heart  know- 
ledge, and  conclude  themselves  masters  of  human  nature. 
'Tis  as  easy  as  lying!  Perhaps  next  to  the  mystery  of  God 
in  Christ  is  the  mystery  of  God  shining  in  the  heart,  to 
give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Man  shines  as  far  as  the  intellect ;  God  shines  into  the 
heart.  There  is  vastly  more  light  in  this  world  upon  the 
intellect  than  there  is  in  the  heart.  Intellectual  light  men 
are  very  proud  of,  and  it  makes  them  proud ;  heart-light 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  15 

they  care  little  about,  for  it  makes  them  humble,  and  like 
little  children.  And  yet  it  is  so  strange  and  so  beautiful  a 
thing,  that,  wherever  it  appears,  men  cannot  help  admiring 
it.  Heart-light  in  books  they  recognise  and  acknowledge 
as  one  of  the  highest  proofs  of  genius.  Heart-light  is  life- 
light,  warm,  fervent,  kindling  others.  Mere  intellectual 
light  is  cold,  pale,  unattractive.  There  is  all  the  difference 
that  there  is  between  painted  light  or  reflected  light  upon 
a  portrait  or  statue,  and  the  light  of  life,  the  light  of  the 
warm  coloring  of  flesh  and  blood,  transmitting  even  the 
light  of  the  affections  to  the  beholder.  Man's  light  falls 
upon  the  intellect,  God's  light  goes  into  the  heart.  It 
•must  enter  there,  it  must  work  there,  it  must  live  there,  as 
the  light  of  life,  or  all  is  darkness  and  death.  Hence  our 
blessed  Lord  says,  "  He  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk 
in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.  This  is  a  light 
that  must  enter  into  the  heart,  the  affections,  just  as  the 
light  of  the  sun  enters  into  the  composition  of  plants,  and 
they  grow  in  it,  and  it  works  and  grows  in  them.  If  it 
merely  fell  upon  them,  there  would  be  no  life ;  without  this 
inward  quickening  process,  all  would  be  winter,  like  as  in 
a  glorious  glittering  day  in  February,  though  our  northern 
world  is  flooded  with  light,  clearer  than  that  of  the  tropics, 
yet  the  time  of  germinating,  quickening  life  in  nature  not 
having  come,  the  light  does  not  enter  into  the  composition 
and  growth  of  vegetation,  and  only  serves  to  show  cold 
forms  and  bare  leafless  outlines.  But  when  the  spring 
time  and  summer  come,  God  shoots  the  light  into  the 
heart  of  all  nature,  and  it  becomes  the  light  of  life.  Just 
so  God  must  shoot  it  into  the  heart  of  man,  and  this  is 
a  work  that  man  alone  cannot  do.  Neither  can  man 
alone  make  man  believe  ;  that  also  is  God's  prerogative, 
and  for  this  very  reason,  because  man  gets  no  further  than 
the  intellect  with  his  light,  while  God  pierces  through  the 
intellect  into  the  heart,  and  then  shines  through  the  heart 
into  the  intellect. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Faith  here,  a  discipline  preparatory  to  knowledge  and  faith  hereafter. — 
Passage  of  faith  into  knowledge  and  life. — Faith  in  the  testimony  of  God 
becoming  experience. — The  life  of  heaven  a  life  of  faith. — The  extreme 
credulity  of  unbelief. — Necessity  of  faith  in  evil  as  well  as  good. — Impossi- 
bility of  escaping  from  the  evil,  except  by  believing  God's  testimony  in 
regard  to  it. 

FAITH  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  discipline.  It  is  a  disci- 
pline of  character  in  this  life,  preparatory  for  the  life  of 
heaven.  The  life  of  heaven  will  be  a  life  of  faith  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  even  the  life  of  this  world.  This  may 
seem  paradoxical,  especially  to  a  mind  dwelling  on  the 
common  expression  that  in  heaven  faith  is  swallowed  up 
in  sight.  But  that  is  an  expression  nowhere  to  be  found 
in  the  Scriptures.  We  read  that  death  shall  be  swallowed 
up  in  victory,  but  never  that  faith  shall  be  swallowed  up 
in  sight.  So  far  is  this  from  being  the  case,  that  in  reality 
the  sight  which  the  soul  shall  enjoy  in  heaven  will  only 
prepare  it  for  the  exercise  of  still  greater  faith,  and  faith 
must  continue  to  be  the  life  of  the  soul  for  ever.  Faith 
will  indeed  cease  in  regard  to  certain  things,  of  which 
there  will  be  experience ;  as,  for  example,  the  realities  of 
heaven  and  hell,  the  transactions  of  the  judgment,  the 
promised  salvation  of  the  soul  through  Christ,  the  rewards 
of  the  righteous  and  the  retribution  to  the  wicked ;  faith  in 
Christ  likewise,  as  our  atoning  Saviour,  will  be  changed 
into  sight  and  knowledge.  While  present  in  the  body, 
and  absent  from  the  Lord,  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight. 
We  have  access  to  God  by  faith,  we  wait  for  the  hope  of 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  17 

righteousness  by  faith,  we  are  saved  by  hope  and  faith ; 
for  hope  which  is  seen  is  not  hope,  and  our  hope,  as  yet,  is 
seen  only  by  faith.  In  all  these  respects,  when  the  soul 
in  heaven  beholds  the  Saviour  face  to  face,  it  will  then  live 
by  sight  and  knowledge,  though  now  it  lives  only  by  faith, 
and  possesses  knowledge  only  by  faith. 

But  the  sight  and  experience  of  the  soul  in  all  these 
respects  will  only  prepare  it  for  a  greater  exercise  of  faith 
than  at  present  it  is  capable  of.  All  things  which  at  pre- 
sent are  not  known  by  sense  are  matters  of  faith.  Even 
our  belief  in  God's  existence  at  present  is  partly  faith, 
rather  than  knowledge  only,  for  so  the  word  of  God  repre- 
sents it.  He  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is, 
and  that  he  is  a  re  warder  of  them  who  diligently  seek  him. 

It  is  faith  founded  on  evidence,  by  which  evidence  that 
which  may  be  known  of  God  at  present  is  manifest  in  us 
and  to  us  by  his  works  and  his  word.  But  as  yet  no  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time.  So  that,  as  yet,  our  belief  in 
the  existence  of  God  is  partly  of  the  same  nature  with  our 
belief  in  the  existence,  for  example,  of  Moses.  We  have 
never  seen  Moses,  and  yet  we  believe  in  his  existence. 
But  if  we  had  seen  him,  had  been  acquainted  with  him, 
had  dwelt  with  him  in  life,  had  observed  him,  com- 
muned with  him,  walked  about  with  him,  heard  his  words 
and  seen  his  actions,  our  belief  in  his  existence  would  be 
knowledge,  it  would  be  a  belief  which  we  could  not  help, 
a  belief  founded  on  the  evidence  of  experience,  which  is 
always  irresistible.  So  we  have  never  seen  God.  We 
see  indeed  his  works  ;  we  are  ourselves  his  workmanship, 
and  this  we  know ;  but  we  know  it,  as  yet,  by  faith  and 
reason,  not  sight,  not  such  experience  as  we  are  yet  to 
have.  In  the  same  manner  we  believe  in  Christ,  and  in 
him  God  is  revealed  to  us  more  clearly  than  ever  before, 
so  that  by  our  faith  in  Christ  we  have  a  greater  faith  in 
God ;  and  all  the  evidence  by  which  Christ  is  made  known 
to  us  is  additional  evidence  in  regard  to  God.  But  we 
have  never  seen  Christ ;  all  our  acquaintance  with  Christ, 


18  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

as  yet,  is  by  faith ;  whom,  having  not  seen,  says  the  apostle, 
ye  love ;  in  whom,  though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing, 
ye  rejoice,  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

Now  this  faith,  beginning  in  faitft,  and  passing  from 
faith  to  faith,  becomes  a  life,  a  knowledge,  and  a  discipline 
of  faith  and  life  for  the  life  to  come.  This  is  brought  to 
view  in  those  two  grand  passages  concerning  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  in  Romans  i.  17,  and  2d  Cor.  4th  chapter  and  fifth. 
For  I  am  not  ashamed,  says  Paul,  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
For  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
believeth.  For  therein  the  righteousness  of  God  is  revealed 
from  faith  to  faith ;  as  it  is  written,  the  just  shall  live  by 
faith.  This  faith  in  God's  righteousness  as  revealed  in 
Christ  passes  into  knowledge  and  life  in  the  heart,  when 
God  shines  into  it,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
his  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  living  faith  has 
all  the  power  of  knowledge,  all  the  practical  effect  of  know- 
ledge. We  having  the  same  spirit  of  faith,  according  as  it 
is  written,  I  believed,  and  therefore  have  I  spoken,  we  also 
believe,  and  therefore  speak ;  knowing,  adds  the  apostle, 
KNOWING,  that  he  which  raised  up  the  Lord  Jesus,  shall 
raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus.  And  again,  for  we  KNOW  that  if 
our  earthly  house,  &c.  And  again,  we  are  always  confi- 
dent, KNOWING,  &LC.  Now  here  we  have  faith  passing  into 
knowledge  and  life,  even  in  this  world.  It  is  not  absolute 
knowledge,  but  it  prepares  the  soul  for  an  introduction  into 
such  knowledge.  "It  is  a  discipline  of  preparation,  the  dis- 
cipline of  believing,  and  of  life  by  believing,  here  in  this 
world,  for  absolute  knowledge,  the  knowledge  and  the  life 
of  actual,  sensible  experience  hereafter. 

And  then  again,  that  absolute  knowledge,  for  which  the 
soul  is  prepared  by  a  life  of  faith  here,  is  to  be  the  ground, 
in  connexion  with  this  precious  discipline,  of  still  higher 
faith  hereafter.  For  the  life  of  heaven  is  to  be  a  life  of 
faith,  for  which  all  the  previous  discipline  of  the  soul  was 
necessary  to  prepare  it.  It  is  not  to  be  a  life  of  salvation 
only,  though  salvation  is  declared  by  the  apostle  to  be  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  19 

end  of  our  faith.  And,  considered  with  regard  to  redemp- 
tion from  sin,  and  from  the  world  of  woe,  and  admission  to 
heaven,  in  the  company  of  the  blessed,  in  the  likeness  of 
Christ,  it  is  the  end,  the  perfection,  the  consummation,  the 
completion  and  issue  of  our  faith.  But  this  end  of  faith  is 
not  so  much  the  close  of  one  dispensation,  as  it  is  the 
beginning  of  another,  to  which  the  whole  of  the  preceding 
was  preparatory.  The  faith  itself,  as  a  discipline,  and  the 
salvation,  which  is  the  issue  of  that  discipline,  are  but  the 
stepping-stones  to  the  life  higher  still,  of  knowledge  and 
of  faith,  in  and  for  the  glory  of  God. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  or  some  may  be  disposed  to  ask, 
what  can  there  be  higher  than  salvation  ?  And  we  may 
answer  that  salvation  is  but  the  beginning  of  a  life  in  God, 
a  life  of  faith,  and  of  the  beholding  and  acquisition  of  God's 
knowledge  from  faith  to  faith,  in  which  a  kind  and  degree 
of  faith  shall  be  requisite  of  which  we  cannot  now  con- 
ceive, and  for  which  we  are  not  now  prepared,  and  could 
not  be  prepared  in  any  other  way  than  by  our  present  dis- 
cipline of  faith  unto  salvation.  There  may  be  manifesta- 
tions of  God  hereafter  to  the  spirits  in  bliss,  which  will 
require  a  state  of  salvation  wrought  out  by  the  precious 
discipline  of  faith,  before  the  soul  can  have  a  capacity  of 
faith  large  enough  to  begin  to  receive  those  manifestations. 
So  that  if  to  fallen  beings  God  had  begun  to  manifest  him- 
self by  sight  instead  of  faith,  it  may  have  been  a  thing  in 
the  nature  of  things  impossible  that  salvation  should  ever 
in  that  way  have  been  attained.  God  must  be  to  us  a 
God  who  for  the  present  hideth  himself,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  possible  for  us  to  be  prepared  for  his  revelation  of 
himself  hereafter  to  our  experience.  So  that  this  may  be 
a  satisfaction  to  the  mind,  if  at  any  time  it  be  inclined  to 
wonder  why  God  takes,  as  it  sometimes  seems,  such  round- 
about and  distant  ways  of  bringing  the  soul  to  himself,  or 
why  he  does  not  come  out  of  his  place  of  invisibleness, 
and  cause  the  very  sense  of  his  creatures  to  see  and  know 
him,  or  why  he  does  not  present  himself  in  such  tangible, 


20  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

irresistibly  impressive  forms  to  the  human  soul,  as  to  make 
it  impossible  that  any  creature  should  ever  fall  into,  or 
experience,  any  insensibility  in  regard  to  his  attributes. 

For,  suppose  for  a  moment  that  he  Should  do  this  to  a 
creature  not  disciplined  by  faith ;  suppose  that  for  a  season, 
in  order  to  convince  the  soul  of  the  tendency  of  sin,  and 
the  certainty  of  its  penalty,  and  of  his  perfections  as 
against  the  sinner,  he  should  follow  every  sin  with  its  penal 
consequences,  making  the  soul  feel  the  fires  of  divine 
justice ;  and  suppose  that  instead  of  requiring  such  a  soul 
to  believe  that  God  is,  and  that  he  will  call  all  men  to  an 
account,  he  should,  for  the  present,  manifest  himself 
in  unquestionable  miracles,  dealing  with  every  soul 
by  the  present  individual  experience  of  his  own  power ; 
even  then  it  is  evident  that  this  would  not  produce  faith, 
nor  prepare  the  soul  for  the  exercise  of  faith,  which 
would  remain  in  exercise  only  so  long  as  the  experience 
continued,  but  the  moment  it  should  be  withdrawn,  the 
moment  God  should  require  the  soul  to  believe  without 
experience,  it  would  again  wait  for  experience,  and  would 
not  believe  until  again  experience  should  come.  It  is  on 
this  ground  that  our  Blessed  Lord  assures  us  that,  if  men 
will  not  believe  on  the  ground  of  God's  Word,  they  would 
not,  also;  though  one  rose  from  the  dead.  And  this  kind 
of  faith  is  also  the  very  faith  of  devils,  who,  there  is  reason 
to  suppose,  cannot  and  do  not  believe  anything  but  by 
experience.  And  in  this  point  Satan  changes  into  his  own 
nature  the  soul  of  every  unbeliever,  whose  mind  he  suc- 
ceeds in  blinding  to  the  light  of  the  gospel,  by  experience 
of  the  delusions  of  sense. 

So  that,  in  the  nature  of  things,  the  soul  cannot  know 
God,  but  by  faith.  The  bare  experience  of  God  is  not 
knowledge  of  him,  but  only  faith  is  ;  for  the  devils  have 
experience  of  God,  but  no  knowledge  of  him,  nor  affec- 
tionate belief  in  him,  for  himself — the  belief  which  is  con- 
fidence, which  is  knowledge,  which  is  life.  So  that,  if 
you  should  now  stop  the  experience  of  the  devils  in  the  world 


CHRIST    IN    THE     MIND.  21 

of  woe,  if  you  should  stop  their  sufferings,  and  leave  God 
presented  as  he  was  before,  there  would  still  be  no  pro- 
duction of  faith  in  him ;  all  the  experience  of  the  devils 
would  not  have  taught  them  faith.  Faith  alone  can  pre- 
pare the  soul  for  experience,  can  teach  the  right  use  of 
experience,  and  can  make  experience  a  discipline  of 
knowledge  and  of  life. 

And  this  shows  us  a  view,  in  which  the  unbeliever,  the 
infidel,  the  professed  atheist,  the  man  who  denies  every- 
thing which  he  does  not  himself  experience,  comes  singu- 
larly near,  even  in  this  world,  to  the  character  of  devils  as 
described  in  the  Word  of  God.  Infidelity,  or  a  compla- 
cent demand  of  experience,  and  a  determination  and 
habit  of  being  moved  only  by  experience,  which  is  the 
pride  of  some  men's  intellects,  so  far  as  they  deem  it  a 
virtue,  let  them  remember,  is  the  virtue  of  the  devil.  He 
was  the  first  unbeliever  and  liar,  the  first  who  taught  the 
doctrine  of  believing  only  in  what  you  experience.  "  Yea, 
hath  God  said  that  ye  shall  die  ?  But  God  doth  know  that 
ye  shall  be  as  gods.  I  telJ  you  that  ye  shall  experience  no 
evil."  Satan  would  have  men  believe  on  his  own  assertion 
merely,  before  experience,  even  while  teaching  and  per- 
suading men  not  to  believe  in  anything  but  by  experience, 
not  to  believe  in  God's  testimony.  Satan  would  have  men 
believe  in  his  testimony  in  preference  to  God's.  And  this 
is  just  the  characteristic  both  of  philosophic,  and  of 
ordinary  and  vulgar  infidelity.  Do  not  believe,  cries  the 
hiss  of  the  Serpent,  without  experience.  Yea,  do  not 
believe,  cries  Hume  the  philosopher,  without  experience. 
Yea,  do  not  believe,  cry  the  vulgar  herd  of  infidels,  with- 
out experience.  But  why  ?  Why  not  believe  ?  Mark 
the  answer.  Because  we  assure  you  that  the  experience 
you  are  required  to  credit  will  not  follow.  Yea,  says  the 
hiss  of  the  Serpent,  ye  shall  not  surely  die.  Yea,  says  the 
philosophic  Hume,  there  is  no  life  of  retribution  beyond 
the  grave.  Yea,  say  the  whole  company  of  unbelievers, 
there  is  no  hell,  no  penal  retribution. 


22  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Now,  mark  their  requisition,  their  own  enormous  tax 
on  your  credulity,  even  while  they  ridicule  the  idea  of 
believing  on  testimony  without  experience.  What  ground 
is  it,  on  which  they  call  upon  you  to  disbelieve  all  the 
testimony  of  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  world  of 
rewards  and  punishments  ?  What  ground  on  which  they 
call  upon  you  not  to  believe  ?  Why,  their  own  testimony, 
without  experience !  Who  is  there  of  them  that  has 
ever  gone  into  the  eternal  world  and  found  the  Bible  a 
falsehood,  and  then  come  back  to  this  world  to  present 
experience  as  the  ground  of  belief  ?  Who  is  there  that 
has  ever  died  in  his  sins,  and  gone  into  the  eternal  world, 
and  there  found  himself  happy,  in  spite  of  the  Bible,  and 
has  then  come  back  to  tell  his  old  companions,  on  the 
boasted  ground  of  experience,  that  there  is  no  penal 
retribution  ? — that  hell  is  a  mere  bugbear  of  superstition, 
the  last  judgment  a  cunningly  devised  fable,  and  the  wrath 
of  God  against  sin  a  false  report  of  his  character  ?  And 
yet  they  call  upon  you  not  to  believe  without  experience. 
They  will  believe  in  Satan,  and  in  Hume,  and  in  their 
own  assertions,  without  experience,  but  not  in  God. 
They  will  take  Satan  at  his  word,  and  take  the  word  of 
any  philosophic  fool,  and  swear  on  the  faith  of  any  octavo 
of  denial  of  the  Word  of  God,  without  even  a  pretence  to 
the  foundation  of  experience  to  stand  upon.  This  is 
infidelity  in  all  its  forms.  An  enormous  tax  on  the  cre- 
dulity of  men,  even  in  those  very  respects  in  which  they 
warn  men  against  credulity,  and  call  upon  them  to  harden 
themselves  against  all  evidence  but  that  of  experience. 

But,  now,  suppose  that  they  themselves  have  what  they 
could  call  experience.  Suppose  that  any  twelve  men  among 
a  company  of  disbelievers  in  the  sanctions  of  God's  word,  a 
company  of  those  who  deny  the  tremendous  reality  of  an 
endless  retribution,  were  to  be  carried  into  the  eternal 
world,  and  there  to  find  from  experience  that  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  a  hell,  or  an  endurance  of  retributive  suffer- 
ing ;  and  suppose  that  these  twelve  men  could  return  to 


CHRIST    IN    THE.   MIND.  23 

earth  with  the  assertion  of  what  they  had  seen  and  known  ; 
on  what  ground  could  they  call  upon  men  to  believe  them, 
and  disbelieve  the  gospel,  but  the  ground  of  their  own 
testimony  ?  Simply  and  barely  the  ground  of  their  own 
testimony !  But  on  their  own  present  theory  of  denying 
everything  which  cannot  be  demonstrated  by  experience, 
how  could  they  demand  that  other  men  besides  themselves 
should  believe  in  them,  and  disbelieve  the  gospel,  on  the 
bare  assertion  of  their  experience  ?  They  have  cut  away 
the  ground  they  themselves  would  endeavor  to  stand  upon. 
They  make  belief  in  any  testimony  absolutely  impossible. 
If  they  require  you  not  to  believe  in  God's  testimony,  they 
cannot  present  you  anything  in  which  you  can  believe. 
The  principle  of  unbelief  in  eternal  realities,  as  revealed  in 
God's  word,  logically*  and  consistently  driven,  cuts  you  off 
from  the  possibility  of  believing  anything  in  the  universe, 
until  you  yourself  experience  it. 

And  now  suppose  this  were  the  principle  acted  on  by 
mankind,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  Why,  just 
this — that  the  experience  of  evil,  being  gained  in  defiance 
of  God's  warning,  and  as  the  fruit  and  penalty  of  an  un- 
changed evil  nature,  when  it  comes,  will  come  too  late, 
and  be  eternal.  It  will  make  you  a  believer  indeed,  but  a 
believer  to  your  own  destruction,  an  eternal  believer  in 
evil,  and  in  nothing  else  ;  a  believer  by  the  force  of  despair. 
And  that  is  the  very  point  of  such  infinite  consequence. 
The  evil  of  which  you  are  forewarned  of  God,  being  required 
now  to  believe  it  on  God's  testimony,  and  so  to  escape 
from  it,  is  eternal  evil.  It  is  just  what  exists,  has  existed, 
and  will  exist  for  ever,  as  an  inevitable  result  of  the  nature 
of  things,  wherever  there  is  an  evil  being.  And  the  requi- 
sition of  infidelity,  that  you  believe  it  not,  except  on  expe- 
rience, is  just  the  requisition  that  you  hazard  its  eternal 
experience,  that  you  plunge  into  its  eternal  possession. 

Now,  then,  if  you  would  ever  have  experience  of  good, 
it  must  be  by  faith  both  in  good  and  evil.  You  must 
believe  in  the  good,  and  now  secure  it ;  you  must  believe 


24  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

in  the  evil,  and  now  avoid  it.  If  you  do  not  believe  in  the 
one,  you  will  not  and  cannot  in  the  other;  and  if  you 
believe  in  neither,  you  will  have  experience  of  the  evil,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  good,  to  your  own  everlasting  destruc- 
tion. God  forewarns  you  of  the  evilj  that  you  may  believe 
in  that,  and,  obeying  his  directions,  may  not  experience  it. 
God  promises  you  the  good,  that  you  may  believe  in  that, 
and  guided  by  his  directions  may  experience  it  for  ever. 

Look  now  on  the  other  side.  In  the  introduction  of  sin 
and  unbelief  into  our  world,  he  who  was  a  liar  and  murderer 
from  the  beginning  said  to  our  first  parents,  "  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die,  but  God  knoweth  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil."  In  that  there  was  tremendous  truth,  as 
well  as  the  first  universal  lie.  It.  was  a  sardonic,  malignant, 
bitter  irony  of  truth,  poured  like  a  jet  of  infernal  fire,  from 
the  devil's  experience.  Ye  shall  be  as  gods.  But  what 
kind  of  gods  ?  The  devil  and  his  angels,  the  fallen  angels ! 
No  beings  in  the  universe  knew  evil,  but  those  who  knew 
sin  ;  none  others  could  know  it.  The  angels  of  heaven 
were  in  that  blissful  ignorance  in  which  Adam  himself 
was  created,  ignorance  of  everything  but  good.  The  devil 
and  his  angels  had  fallen  by  the  commission  of  sin,  from 
that  blissful  ignorance  into  the  eternal  knowledge  of  evil. 
And  now  they  would  have  Adam  fall  likewise,  fall  by  sin 
into  the  same  abyss  of  progress  in  knowledge,  becoming 
like  the  gods  in  hell,  knowing  both  good  and  evil.  It  was, 
indeed,  an  advancement  in  knowledge !  The  inhabitants 
of  hell  did  know  more  than  those  of  heaven  ;  and  if  they 
would  have  it,  they  were  welcome  to  have  it  all  to  them- 
selves ;  none  else  desired  it.  They  knew  both  good  and 
evil ;  had  known  only  good,  and  now  knew  evil  only,  and 
for  ever.  In  heaven  the  blissful  angels  still  know  only 
good,  and  to  know  the  evil,  they  must  ruin  their  own  souls, 
must  go  down  to  hell  as  sinful,  ruined  beings.  It  was  in 
this  way  that  Satan  would  make  Adam  a  god ;  would  have 
him  to  know  both  good  and  evil ;  good  by  the  loss  of  it, 
evil  by  the  possession  of  it. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  25 

Adam  did  not  need  faith  in  the  good  ;  it  was  his  already. 
But  faith  in  the  evil  he  did  need,  faith  in  God's  word  in 
regard  to  the  evil ;  and  God  required  it  of  him,  as  the  only 
way  of  keeping  the  good.  But  now  since  the  fall,  having 
lost  the  good,  we  need  faith  in  the  good  as  well  as  the  evil, 
belief  in  regard  to  both,  founded  on  God's  word ;  because 
we  do  not,  as  yet,  know  either  as  eternal.  We  need  faith 
in  God's  promises  as  to  the  one,  and  faith  in  his  threaten- 
ings  as  to  the  other ;  and  by  acting  according  to  our  faith, 
we  shall,  through  Christ,  inherit  the  one,  and  be  saved 
from  the  other,  shall  know  the  good  eternally,  and  be  freed 
from  the  evil  eternally. 

Now,  then,  we  return  to  the  point  from  whence  we 
started,  that  faith  is  a  discipline  of  the  soul,  essential  to  its 
preparation  for  a  life  of  blessedness  in  the  world  to  come. 
It  is  God's  arrangement  in  Christ,  that  we  should  be  saved 
by  faith,  and  by  faith  in  him  only ;  but  that  is  not  all ;  the 
discipline  of  faith  and  the  principle  of  faith  are  necessary 
in  our  own  nature,  as  without  that,  though  there  may  be 
a  heaven  in  the  universe,  there  can  be  none  in  our  souls. 
We  must  carry  the  elements  of  heaven,  the  rest  of  heaven 
into  heaven  with  us,  or  we  shall  find  no  rest  there.  We 
shall  know  evil  only,  in  the  eternal  world,  if  we  do  not 
know  Christ  in  this  world.  And  how  astounding  is  the 
insensibility  of  the  multitudinous  souls  of  men  to  this  truth ! 
They  hear  it,  as  if  it  no  more  concerned  them,  than  the 
question  does  whether  the  star  Sirius  is  inhabited.  If  there 
were  the  least  degree  of  sensibility,  though  but  enough  to 
dictate  the  turning  of  a  look,  with  the  utterance  of  a  prayer, 
towards  Christ,  there  might  be  hope ;  and  in  the  least 
struggling  of  the  soul  after  him,  there  may  be  the  com- 
mencement of  a  life  of  faith  within  the  soul.  Yea,  when 
the  soul,  feeling  its  utter  destitution  of  anything  like  faith, 
begins  to  struggle  towards  Christ  for  faith,  there  may  be 
in  that  first  faint  struggle  the  predetermination  of  faith,  the 
beginning  of  God  working  in  the  soul  both  to  will  and  to 
do.  And  this  is  a  wonderful  encouragement,  even  in  times 

2 


26  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND. 

of  general,  yea  universal  neglect  ,and  indifference  on  the 
subject  of  religion ;  encouragement  for  the  soul  to  begin. 
Yea,  we  had  almost  said,  do  anything  else  except  do 
nothing ;  begin,  though  in  the  faintest  degree ;  and  in  that 
beginning  there  may  be  God,  there  irfay  be  Christ,  there 
may  be  heaven. 

0  Lord,  how  should  thy  servant  see, 
Unless  thou  give  me  seeing  eyes  ? 
Well  may  I  fall,  if  out  of  thee ! 

If  out  of  thee,  how  should  I  rise  ?     • 

1  wander  wide  without  thine  aid, 
And  lose  my  way  in  midnight  shade. 

O  let  my  prayer  acceptance  find, 
And  bring  the  mighty  blessing  down; 
Eyesight  impart,  for  I  am  blind, 
And  seal  me  thine  adopted  son ; 
A  fallen,  helpless  creature  take, 
And  heir  of  thy  salvation  make. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Faith  followed  by  the  Earnest  of  the  Spirit. — The  distinction  between  Faith, 
Knowledge,  and  Experience. — Neither  Faith  nor  Experience  possible,  if 
Experience  be  demanded  first. — Reproductive  power  of  Faith,  and  its  redu- 
plicating processes  of  growth. — Connexion  between  the  Earnest  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  Church,  and  the  conversion  of  souls  from  the  world. 


IT  is  quite  impossible  to  give  a  better  definition  of  Faith 
than  Paul  has  done  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews ;  and  yet,  in  that  definition  there  might 
seem  at  first  sight  to  be  almost  a  confusion  between  the 
act  of  the  soul  itself,  and  the  realities  in  reference  to  which 
that  act  is  exercised.  And  in  fact  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  genuine  faith  creates  as  well  as  apprehends,  the 
objects  which  it  must  realize.  Faith  is  belief  in  God's 
testimony,  followed  by  experience.  The  order,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  set  forth  in  2d  Cor.  iv.  13,  thus :  We  having  the 
same  spirit  of  faith,  according  as  it  is  written,  I  believed, 
and  therefore  have  I  spoken,  we  also  believe,  and  therefore 
speak;  knowing,  &c.  The  knowing  follows  the  belief, 
and  the  speaking  follows  the  knowing,  as  pressed  on  and 
impelled  by  it.  The  knowing  following  the  belief,  is  the 
Word  of  God  as  fire  in  the  soul,  yea,  as  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  calls  it,  as  a  fire  in  the  bones,  that  must  for  very 
relief  break  out  into  a  flame,  and  burn  upon  other  souls, 
yea,  upon  the  whole  world.  It  is  a  constraining  impulse, 
a  life,  a  power,  inward,  from  God,  and  therefore  uncon- 
querable, irresistible. 

"  In  whom  also,  after  that  ye  believed,''  says  Paul  to  the 


28  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Ephesians,  "  ye  were  sealed  with  that  Holy  Spirit  of  pro- 
mise, which  is  the  Earnest  of  our  inheritance,  until  the 
redemption  of  the  purchased  possession  unto  the  praise  of 
his  glory."  This  is  a  wonderful  passage.  The  Earnest 
of  our  inheritance  means  the  experience  of  it,  in  some 
measure  beforehand,  ministered  with  Faith  'by  the  Holy 
promised  Spirit,  until  the  time  when,  by  redemption  com- 
pleted, it  shall  come  to  be  held  in  actual  everlasting  posses- 
sion. Thus  God  gives  us  not  mere  testimony,  though  it  be 
his  own,  but  experience  also,  and  the  evidence  of  experience, 
abundantly,  in  the  Christian  life,  in  the  Christian  system, 
which  is  a  system  of  life,  not  a  theory.  But  experience 
does  not  come  first,  it  is  not  the  first  thing.  Faith  in  God 
comes  first,  faith  in  God's  testimony ;  then  experience  is 
the  fruit  of  faith.  First  comes  belief  in  the  things  revealed 
of  God,  because  God  testifies  of  them,  because  God  declares 
them.  Then  comes  knowledge,  the  knowledge  of  expe- 
rience, growing  out  of  faith.  In  some  things,  it  is  true, 
experience  does  come  first,  is  the  first  thing ;  and  faith,  in 
accepting  it  from  God,  simply  gives  it  shape,  and  possesses 
it  in  a  perfection  and  completeness  of  truth,  which  God 
only  himself  possesses  and  can  impart.  As,  for  example, 
men  know  by  experience  their  own  sinfulness ;  that  is  not 
an  article  of  faith  first,  and  knowledge  afterwards;  but 
God's  word  teaches  the  same  thing,  only  in  clearer  light, 
and  as  a  universal  truth,  and  with  a  perfection  and  power, 
which  God's  testimony  only  could  impart.  And  faith, 
receiving  this  truth,  which  was  partially  known  before, 
from  God,  knows  it  now  with  incomparably  greater  clear- 
ness and  certainty.  So  that,  after  all,  there  is,  even  before- 
hand, enough  of  experience  to  begin  the  Christian  system 
with  that,  and  not  with  faith ;  and  indeed  in  one  direction 
we  do  begin  with  that,  and  appeal  to  that,  and  from  that 
carry  the  sinner  to  God. 

But  in  regard  to  things  beyond  our  present,  limited, 
unassis'ted  experience,  we  must  begin  with  faith,  and  come 
to  experience  afterwards.  And  faith  itself  produces 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  29 

knowledge,  the  knowledge  of  experience  ;  it  is  the  sub- 
stance and  life  of  knowledge,  the  demonstration  of  things 
not  seen.  Let  us  endeavor  to  illustrate.  I  have  a  near 
and  dear  friend,  we  will  say,  a  Father,  so  good,  so  kind, 
so  true,  so  holy,  so  completely  under  the  influence  of 
heavenly  principle,  and  so  bent  upon  my  best  good,  that 
I  have  a  confidence  in  him,  which  could  not  be  surpassed 
by  any  knowledge  of  my  own.  If  he  were  to  tell  me  any- 
thing for  my  good,  which  I  did  not  know  before,  or  could 
not  know  without  his  telling  it,  it  would  answer  for  me 
all  the  purposes  of  knowledge.  It  would  be  in  me  as 
complete,  actual,  and  active  knowledge,  as  if  I  myself 
had  seen  it.  Now  this  is  because  I  believe  it,  because  I 
believe  my  Father.  I  believe  him,  and  therefore  know 
what  he  tells  me,  because  it  is  the  truth.  But  a  stranger, 
not  acquainted  with  my  Father,  not  having  confidence  in 
him,  does  not  believe  him  in  this  manner,  and  therefore, 
though  told  by  him  precisely  the  same  things,  and  for  his 
good,  does  not  know  those  things.  He  knows  them  in 
one  sense,  because  he  has  been  told  them,  and  they  are 
true.  But  in  another  sense  he  does  not  know  them,  and 
cannot  tell  another  person  that  he  knows  them,  because 
he  does  not  believe  them.  He  demands  experience  of 
them,  before  he  can  consent  to  know  them. 

Again  :  You  have  before  you  a  vase  or  jar  containing 
hydrocyanic  acid  in  a  preparation  of  the  strongest  alcohol. 
A  person  enters  your  room,  whom  you  know  to  be 
inveterately  addicted  to  strong  drink.  While  he  is  there, 
you  are  called  away ;  but  you  take  care,  before  leaving  him, 
to  tell  him  that  the  jar  contains  the  most  deadly  of  all 
known  poisons,  a  single  drop  of  which  would  destroy  life. 
"  I  have  told  you  this,"  you  say  to  him,  "  and  you  know  it ; 
therefore  touch  it  not,  at  your  peril."  "But  I  do  not 
know  it  by  any  means,"  the  man  answers  ;  "  you  tell  it 
me,  indeed,  but  I  do  not  know  it ;  and  how  can  I  know  it, 
but  by  trying  it,  or  seeing  it  tried."  "  You  do  know  it," 
you  answer,  "  because  it  is  true,  and  I  have  told  it  to  you, 


30  GRACE     AND    TRUTH, 

and  whatever  truth  you  hear  and  understand,  you  know." 
"  But  I  do  not  know  it,"  the  man  answers,  "  because  I  do 
not  believe  it."  And  truly,  if  the  man  does  not  believe  it, 
then  in  one  sense  he  does  not  know  it,  while  in  another 
sense,  the  thing  being  true,  and  having  been  told  him,  he 
does  know  it.  And  the  probability  is  that  such  an  im- 
pression of  knowledge  will  have  been  made  upon  him  by 
your  manner  and  words,  that  though  he  says  he  does  not 
believe  you,  yet  he  will  not  touch  the  jar.  In  that  he  will 
act  upon  belief,  without  what  he  calls  or  deems  to  be 
knowledge.  But  if,  against  whatever  you  have  told  him, 
he  tastes  of  the  liquid  and  dies,  you  would  say  he  knew 
better,  he  died  against  knowledge. 

But  belief  does  not  in  itself  constitute  knowledge  ; 
nothing  but  truth  constitutes  that,  and  belief  is  but  the 
apprehension  and  reception  of  it.  The  belief  of  things 
that  are  true  is  knowledge  ;  the  belief  of  things  that  are 
false  is  not  knowledge,  though  it  be  ever  so  firm  a  belief. 
The  knowledge  of  things  that  are  true,  without  belief,  is 
dead  knowledge,  knowledge  without  life.  It  is  only  belief 
that  imparts  life  and  power.  Nothing  but  belief  can  make 
a  man  feel  that  he  knows.  And  thus  it  is  with  faith  in 
God,  faith  in  divine  things.  Knowledge  without  it  is 
dead,  and  inefficacious  for  anything  but  condemnation. 
Revelation  without  faith  is  the  world's  condemnation. 

Sense  always  produces  belief,  at  least  while  the  ex- 
perience of  it  lasts,  but  knowledge  does  not  always.  An 
ignorant  man  in  torrid  climes,  who  never  saw  snow  or  ice, 
hears  that  at  the  North  by  the  effect  of  cold  the  water 
becomes  as  hard  as  a  rock.  Now  having  heard  that,  and  it 
being  true,  does  he  not  know  it  ?  Yet  he  does  not  believe  it, 
and  therefore  he  does  not  feel  that  he  knows  it,  and  can- 
not use  it  as  knowledge.  But,  set  him  down  by  a  pool  of 
water  at  the  North,  in  an  atmosphere  thirty  degrees  below 
the  freezing  point,  and  let  him  see  and  feel  the  process,  and 
then  handle  the  ice,  and  he  will  both  know  it  and  believe 
it.  He  will  not  only  know  it,  as  he  knew  it  when  it  was 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  31 

told  him,  but  he  will  feel  that  he  knows  it.  The  experience 
of  it  will  produce  belief,  when  mere  knowledge  would  not. 
Experience  compels  belief,  takes  away  all  volition  from  it, 
all  possibility  of  the  exercise  of  confidence  apart  from 
sight. 

Now  this  sense  or  experience  in  earthly  things  is  analo- 
gous to  the  sealing  of  the  spirit  in  heavenly  things  ;  only, 
while  in  earthly  things  it  goes  before  belief,  in  heavenly 
things  it  follows.  It  follows  the  confidence  of  the  soul  in 
God  as  a  Father,  in  Christ  as  a  Saviour.  That  confidence 
of  the  soul  in  God  sets  it  upon  the  rock  of  reality,  makes 
it  feel  the  truth,  and  walk  upon  it,  as  a  swimmer,  ship- 
wrecked and  almost  exhausted,  feels  suddenly  the  hard 
bottom  beneath  his  feet,  and  speedily  stands  upon  dry  land. 
So  faith  takes  the  soul  out  of  the  sea  of  doubt,  and  places 
it  upon  the  Rock  of  Ages.  Thus  faith  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for. 

There  is,  therefore,  both  the  evidence  of  faith,  evidence 
for  faith,  and  the  evidence  of  sense,  in  the  Christian  sys- 
tem ;  but  if  sense  or  experience  be  demanded  first,  if  it  be 
sought  and  insisted  on  before  faith,  before  the  soul  will 
believe,  then  there  can  be  neither  faiih  nor  experience. 
God  is  before  sense,  God  is  the  ground  of  sense  itself,  God 
is  the  author  of  sense  ;  and  the  things  of  the  Christian 
system  are  brought  from  God  to  sense,  addressed  by  God 
to  the  inward  sense  of  God  in  all  mankind.  Faith  in  God 
will  accept  God's  voice,  God's  Word  ;  will  believe  it,  and 
will  wait  for  experience  ;  but  believing  it,  knows  it,  and 
has  experience,  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit.  But  the  demand 
for  experience  first,  doubts  God,  dishonors  God,  exalts 
man  above  God,  puts  the  testimony  of  man,  of  sinful  self, 
above  that  of  God.  It  says,  we  will  accept  of  nothing  as 
from  God,  till  it  be  sanctioned,  confirmed,  endorsed,  made 
credible,  from  man,  by  man's  experience.  This  is  the 
blindness  and  absurdity  of  unbelief ;  this  is  sense,  shut- 
ting itself  up  to  sense,  and  making  faith  impossible.  It  is 
just  as  if  you  should  turn  the  Cathedral  of  Strasbourg 


82  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

upside  down,  with  the  steeple  in  the  earth  and  the  founda- 
tions in  the  air. 

The  temple  of  our  faith  and  experience  is  built  on  God ; 
it  can  be  built  on  nothing  else.  God's  Word,  and  faith  in 
God's  Word,  is  its  broad  immovable  foundation  ;  experience 
is  the  spire,  rising  into  heaven  ;  growing  more  slender  as 
to  sense,  more  spiritual,  more  above  sense,  more  imper- 
ceptible to  sense,  gazing  at  it  from  below,  more  like  a  line 
or  gossamer  web  in  the  air,  yet  more  true,  more  certain, 
more  definite,  lost  in  the  skies,  because  ascending  to  a 
height  which  sense  cannot  reach.  We  lay  the  foundations, 
ascend  the  dome,  and  climb  the  spire  ;  and  thence  faith 
again,  renewed  and  strengthened  by  an  experience  grow- 
ing out  of  faith,  gazes  into  heaven,  balances  her  wings  on 
the  highest  point  of  experience  given  this  side  of  heaven, 
and  from  that  point  takes  her  flight  to  the  throne  of  God  in 
glory.  But  if  the  soul  had  refused  to  begin,  except  with 
experience,  the  experience  of  self  instead  of  the  Word  of 
God,  the  progress  would  have  been  downwards,  into  the 
earth,  not  out  of  it ;  away  from  heaven,  not  towards  it, 
but  down  towards  hell.  Progress  towards  God,  conquest 
over  self,  and  advancement  in  divine  things,  is  impossible 
except  by  faith. 

By  another  figure,  faith  is  the  root,  experience  the  fruit ; 
and  faith  says  to  experience,  Thou  bearest  not  the  root, 
but  the  root  thee.  Faith  draws  her  nourishment  from  the 
parent  soil,  the  heavenly,  life-giving  Word,  into  which  her 
roots  strike  so  deep,  that  you  cannot  tear  them  away 
without  tearing  the  Word  away,  and  from  which  you  can- 
not separate  them  without  destroying  life  ;  faith  is  nothing 
apart  from  God's  Word.  But,  growing  out  of  God's 
Word,  quickened  by  God's  Spirit,  faith  rises  into  a  tree, 
and  produces  the  fruits  of  experience.  Then  again  from 
the  seeds  of  those  fruits,  once  more  planted,  from  the 
experience  produced  by  faith,  and  striking  down  again  into 
the  same  heavenly  soil,  there  springs  a  greater  faith,  and 
more  abundant  fruit,  till  there  is  a  forest  that  shakes  like 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  33 

Lebanon.  Faith  reduplicates  itself,  and  is  multiplying  by 
experience  :  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall 
have  more  abundantly.  But  unbelief,  or  the  demand  for 
experience  first,  as  the  ground  of  faith,  is  self-destructive, 
and  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  seemeth  to  have.  Faith  is  from  God  and  in  God, 
and  so  produces  the  work  of  God,  a  holy  experience  of 
God  in  self ;  but  experience  without  faith  is  from  and  in 
self  only,  and  is  for  ever,  just  what  mere  self  is,  sinful ;  and 
produces  only  what  mere  self  produces,  unbelief  and 
death.  The  water  can  never  rise  higher  or  purer  than 
the  fountain. 

It  is  just  as  if  God  should  offer  you  a  grain  of  wheat, 
telling  you  that  if  you  will  take  it  as  his  gift,  and  plant  it 
on  his  assurance,  it  will  grow  up  and  produce  a  thousand 
grains.  If,  believing  God,  you  take  it  and  plant  it,  then 
the  thousand  grains  are  yours,  your  experience  ;  and  again 
out  of  them^your  living  faith  may  have  a  hundred  times  as 
many  thousand  grains,  and  again  out  of  them  a  countless 
harvest.  But  if  you  say,  I  must  see  the  thousand  grains 
promised  and  predicted,  before  I  ca«  believe,  before  I  can 
take  the  first  grain  and  use  it,  then  you  can  have  nothing, 
and  are  worse  than  nothing,  and  must  die.  Rejecting 
reliance  upon  God,  there  is  nothing  but  death  left  possible. 

Faith,  in  its  reproductive  power  and  process  of  growth, 
may  be  compared  to  the  great  Oriental  Banyan  Tree.  It 
springs  up  in  God,  rooted  in  God's  Word,  and  soon  there 
are  the  great  waving  branches  of  experience.  Then 
from  these  very  branches  the  runners  go  down  again  into 
God's  Word,  and  thence  spring  up  again,  new  products  of 
faith,  and  new  trees  of  experience,  till  one  and  the  same 
tree  becomes  in  itself  a  grove,  with  pillared  shades  and 
echoing  walks  between.  So  experience  just  grows  out  of 
faith,  and  then  a  greater  faith  grows  out  of  experience, 
the  Word  of  God  being  all  the  while  the  region  of  its  roots, 
and  again  a  still  vaster,  richer  experience  grows  out  of 
that  faith,  till  every  branch  becomes  not  only  a  product, 

2* 


34  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

but  a  parent  stock,  set  in  the  same  Word,  and  all  expand- 
ing into  a  various,  magnificent,  and  enlarging  forest. 
"  Said  I  not  unto  thee  that  if  thou  wouldst  believe  thou 
shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God  ?  He  that  believeth,  as  the 
Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly  lhall  flow  rivers  of 
living  water.  This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit  they  should 
receive." 

Thus  it  is  that  experience  is  founded  on  faith,  not  faith 
on  experience.  I  receive  not  testimony  from  man,  said 
our  Blessed  Lord.  And  indeed,  if  men  will  not  believe 
God,  how  can  they  believe,  on  man's  testimony,  anything 
in  relation  to  God  ?  They  cannot,  in  relation  to  the  God 
of  the  Scriptures,  but  in  relation  to  the  god  of  their  own 
fancy  they  can  and  do  believe  themselves  and  others. 
They  invest  God  with  other  and  different  attributes  than 
those  exhibited  in  his  Word,  and  then  they  rely  on  human 
testimony  that  such  must  be  the  God  of  the  Universe. 
But  true  faith,  in  all  cases,  is  faith  in  God,  not  man. 
Faith  in  Christian  experience  is  faith  in  God,  not  man, 
God  working  in  man.  When  we  see  souls  sealed  with  the 
earnest  of  the  Spirit,  we  see  one  of  the  greatest  of  God's 
wrorks,  we  look  upon  one  of  God's  witnesses,  or  rather,  one 
of  the  forms  under  which  God  witnesses  of  himself.  Here 
is  another  temple  of  God,  and  in  the  architecture  we  see 
the  hand  of  God,  and  know  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  is 
God  himself  at  present  witnessing  to  his  own  Word.  As 
it  was  said,  They  went  forth  and  preached  everywhere, 
the  Lord  working  with  them,  and  confirming  the  Word 
with  signs  following,  so  now ;  it  is  not  man's  testimony, 
but  God's,  which  he  thus  confirms.  "  How  shall  we 
escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ;  which  at  the  first 
began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and  was  confirmed  unto 
us  by  them  that  heard  him  ;  God  also  bearing  them  wit- 
ness both  with  signs  and  wonders  and  with  divers  miracles 
and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to  his  own  will." 
And  this  earnest  of  the  Spirit  is  God's  witness  of  himself 
in  his  Word.  To  his  own  children  it  is  experience  vouch- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  35 

safed.  It  is  like  taking  them  into  heaven,  and  letting  them 
see.  It  is  to  all  what  the  experience  of  the  three  in  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration  was  to  them  ;  what  Paul's  being 
caught  up  into  the  third  heaven  was  to  him  :  an  additional 
revelation  from  God  for  faith  to  stand  upon,  an  additional 
argument  of  impulse  and  power  to  carry  the  soul  onward 
in  its  path  of  light,  until  the  day  of  eternal  reality.  "  We 
are  his  witnesses,"  says  Peter,  "and  so  is  also  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whom  God  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  him." 
There  cannot  be  a  depth  and  power  of  experience  deeper 
than  that  of  this  Earnest  of  the  Spirit,  nor  indeed  any- 
thing equal  to  it.  It  produces  faith,  it  opens  God's  Word 
more  and  more,  as  windows  in  heaven,  prepares  the  soul 
to  preach  it,  to  stand  upon  it  with  a  more  steadfast  con- 
fidence, it  makes  the  soul  more  and  more  mighty  in  God. 
Out  of  an  intense  practical  understanding  of  God's  Word, 
and  experience  of  it  as  a  fire,  this  Earnest  of  the  Spirit 
prepares  the  soul  to  labor  abundantly  for  God.  This  is 
that  to  which  David  referred  when  he  prayed,  "  Restore 
unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  Salvation  and  uphold  me  with  thy 
free  Spirit ;  then  will  I  teach  transgressors  thy  ways,  and 
sinners  shall  be  converted  unto  thee."  This  is  that  seal  of 
God.  This  is  a  grand  proof  of  God's  message.  Just  as 
a  document  of  state  is  proved  to  be  such  by  being  sealed 
with  the  king's  signet,  or  the  great  seal  of  the  govern- 
ment, so  this  is  proof  that  God  is  there,  that  the  Word  is 
his  Word,  and  the  work  his  work,  the  manifestation  being 
that  of  his  Spirit. 

And  God  would  have  his  people,  his  Church,  present 
their  own  experience,  their  Earnest  of  the  Spirit,  as  a 
great  corroborative  argument  for  coming  to  God,  a  proof 
to  the  world  what  wonderful  things  grow  qut  of  his  Word, 
received  in  faith.  "  Go  home  to  thy  friends,  and  tell  them 
how  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath 
had  compassion  on  thee."  It  is  like  a  Physician  offering 
to  heal  the  people,  and  calling  upon  many  who  have  been 
healed  to  testify  as  to  the  efficacy  of  the  eourse  of  treat- 


36  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

ment.  But  if  the  cure  be  doubtful,  if  the  old  disease 
return  again,  if  there  be  not  the  joy  of  health,  the  activity 
of  renewed  life  and  vigor,  if  the  lame  man,  who  was  sup- 
posed to  have  been  cured,  is  still  seen  with  his  crutches, 
if  the  palsied  are  still  lying  helpless  onHheir  beds,  there  is 
no  argument  for  faith  here.  Hence,  the  great  responsibility 
upon  the  Church  to  show  to  the  world  a  lively,  active, 
fruitr producing  piety,  to  walk  as  children  of  the  light,  to 
be  witnesses  for  God,  a  chosen  generation,  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, to  show  forth  the  praises  of  him,  who  hath  called  you 
out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light.  If  not  such, 
there  is  a  betrayal  of  Christ,  instead  of  a  witnessing  for 
him.  "  The  hand  of  him  that  betrayeth  me  is  with  me  on 
the  table." 

But  faith,  personal  faith  is  requisite.  After  that  ye 
believed  ye  were  sealed.  And  that  Holy  Spirit  with  which 
ye  were  sealed  is  the  Earnest,  a  part  of  the  covenanted 
and  anticipated  gift  in  glory,  and  a  preparation  for  it.  It 
is  the  experience  of  heaven  beforehand,  a  foretaste  of 
heaven,  an  Earnest  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light,  a  sending  forward  of  the  soul,  as  it  were,  into  heaven, 
to  come  back  and  report.  It  is  evidence  from  the  eternal 
world ;  it  is  a  sign  like  the  raising  of  one  from  the  dead ; 
it  is  indeed  the  raising  of  a  dead  soul,  to  speak  as  living. 
It  is  not  man's  evidence,  but  God's  ;  God  speaking  in 
man  ;  the  Holy  Spirit,  given  of  God  to  them  that  obey 
him,  being  God's  witness  of  himself. 

The  evidence  of  a  man  merely  carried  into  heaven  and 
brought  back  again,  would  be  man's  evidence,  not  God's  ; 
the  evidence  of  a  man  plunged  into  hell  and  brought  back 
again,  would  be  man's,  not  God's.  It  would  be  mere 
human  testimony.  But  the  evidence  of  those  sealed  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  God's  evidence  continued ;  it  is  just 
simply  the  predictions  in  his  Word  fulfilled,  and  it  is  all 
from  him.  It  is  not  man  endorsing  God's  Word,  but  it  is 
God's  own  voice,  confirming  his  own  Word  ;  God's  voice 
from  God's  Temple  in  the  soul,  calling  upon  men  to  enter 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  37 

the  Temple  of  the  Word,  and  to  hear  his  voice,  and 
receive  the  Earnest  of  his  Spirit,  there.  It  is  like  the 
preaching  of  Christ,  as  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  directing 
men  to  the  preaching  of  God's  law,  and  to  that  of  the 
prophets,  who  prophesied  beforehand  the  coming  and  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow.  It 
is  God,  varying  and  corroborating  his  own  testimony,  God 
his  own  Interpreter,  God  his  own  Witness. 

Now  this  Holy  promised  Spirit,  this  Earnest  of  our 
inheritance  until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  posses- 
sion^ committed  to  the  Church,  is  vouchsafed  to  Christians, 
for  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  Christ  our  Saviour.  And 
the  more  of  it  the  Church  possesses,  and  the  more  indi- 
vidual Christians  possess,  the  more  visibly  the  glory  of  the 
Redeemer  shines,  and  the  more  the  world  is  attracted  by 
such  a  radiance  ;  the  more  signally  and  tangibly  the  Word 
of  God  is  demonstrated,  and  the  weight  and  meaning  of  its 
great  incomprehensible  texts  of  glory  are  somewhat  mani- 
fested and  brought  even  to  the  reach  of  sense.  We 
ought  to  be  able  to  show  to  the  world  a  great  degree,  an 
even  fresh  supply,  of  this  Earnest  of  the  Spirit,  this  coin 
of  heaven,  this  fruit  from  the  tree  of  life,  these  leaves  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations,  this  water  from  the  river  of 
Paradise,  this  experimental  proof  of  our  inheritance  in 
glory.  How  otherwise  can  we  win  the  attention  of  men 
absorbed  in  earthly  cares,  and  seeking  earthly  treasures  ? 
How  otherwise  can  we  allure  to  brighter  worlds  and  lead 
the  way  ? 

If  a  man  should  come  into  the  city  from  California, 
from  the  gold  region  said  to  be  in  existence  there,  bringing 
with  him  twenty  pounds  weight  of  gold  in  the  shape  of 
the  flakes  or  grains  in  which  it  is  described  as  being  found, 
and  inviting  poor  miserable  adventurers  to  go  with  him  on 
a  new  expedition,  he  would  perhaps  gather  thousands  of 
disciples,  when,  if  he  came  without  his  baskets  of  gold 
flakes  as  the  earnest  of  the  great  treasures  the  company 
would  possess,  he  might  not  gain  one.  And  just  so,  the 


38  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND. 

Church  of  Christ  will  have  power  over  men  just  propor- 
tioned to  the  glory  of  that  Earnest  of  her  inheritance, 
which  she  has  in  present  possession.  Just  so  much  of  the 
Spirit  of  heaven  as  she  now  possesses,  just  so  much  of  the 
joy  of  God's  Salvation  as  belongs  to  Her,  just  so  much  of 
the  glory  of  a  glowing  experience  in  the  deep  things  of 
God  as  is  manifest  in  her,  just  so  much  as  she  can  show, 
prove,  demonstrate,  of  a  revelation  of  the  things  that  eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  those  who  love  him ;  just  so  many  more  souls  will  she 
be  capable  of  drawing  to  her  Saviour.  This  is  the  great 
principle  of  David's  prayer,  Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of 
thy  Salvation,  and  uphold  me  by  thy  free  Spirit ;  then  will 
I  teach  transgressors  thy  ways,  AND  SINNERS  SHALL  BE 

CONVERTED  UNTO  THEE. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Effect  of  unbelief  upon  the  Character. — Illustrations  of  unbelief  in  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees. — Absolute  necessity  of  relying  on  God's  testi- 
mony.— Purpose  for  which  that  testimony  was  given,  that  by  faith  we  may 
avoid  the  experience  of  evil,  and  secure  the  experience  of  good. — Com- 
parison of  the  experiment  of  faith,  and  the  experiment  of  experience. — 
Faith  alone  can  lead  the  soul  to  heaven  ;  experience  alone  leads  it  down  to 
hell. 

IF  the  Divine  be  not  acknowledged  and  reverenced, 
what  becomes  of  the  human  ?  If  God's  witness  of  him- 
self be  not  received,  there  can  remain  to  be  developed  in 
the  human  character  nothing  but  a  spirit  of  universal 
distrust,  bitterness,  and  hatred.  The  likeness  of  the  devil 
comes  out,  both  in  classes  and  individuals,  when  man  lets 
go  his  hold  on  God  and  heaven.  A  man  knows  himself  to 
be  a  liar,  and  believes  all  others  to  be  the  same.  The 
unbelievers  in  Christ,  when  he  was  personally  on  earth, 
illustrated  in  their  own  character  the  malignant  influence 
of  scepticism  upon  the  soul.  They  were  proofs  of  what 
Christ  had  said  respecting  men  enjoying  a  great  light  of 
evidence,  but  rejecting  it ;  it  became  darkness.  And  if 
the  light  that  is  in  you  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that 
darkness  !  "  The  fearfullest  penalty,"  remarks  Mr.  Carlyle, 
"  a  man  pays  for  yielding  to  untruth  of  heart,  is  not  to 
know  true  from  false,  when  he  looks  at  them." 

It  was  a  carping,  bitter  set  of  men,  an  envious  and 
jealous  set,  an  evil  and  adulterous  generation,  which,  when 
Christ  was  upon  earth,  always  sought  a  sign.  The  Phari- 
sees were  formalists  and  hypocrites  ;  the  Sadducees  were 
semi-infidels ;  both  were  unbelievers  in  Christ.  They 


40  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

would  not  receive  the  testimony  of  God  respecting  Christ. 
The  Sadducees  would  not  receive  the  testimony  of  God 
respecting  a  future  state  ;  the  Pharisees  were  at  swords' 
points  with  them  in  this  latter  article  ;  but  both  classes  were 
united  in  refusing  God's  testimony  in  regard  to  the  Messiah, 
or  rather  in  rejecting  the  Messiah  of  God's  testimony ;  and 
so  a  common  enmity  against  Christ  brought  them  together. 
They  rejected  the  counsel  of  God  within  themselves,  not 
being  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  John  unto  repentance, 
not  relishing  the  self-humbling  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
not  being  prepared  by  humility  of  heart,  to  see  their  glory 
and  beauty,  and  to  believe  them. 

They  came  sometimes  to  taunt  and  tempt  Christ  in 
regard  to  the  evidence  on  which  they  concluded  they 
would  possibly  receive  him,  or  might  possibly  be  induced 
to  believe.  But  they  must  have  everything  palpable  to 
their  own  senses.  Theirs  was  the  experimental  philosophy 
of  common  sense,  the  coolness  of  enlightened  minds,  and 
not  the  enthusiasm  of  an  ignorant,  superstitious  rabble. 
Have  any  of  the  rulers,  or  of  the  Pharisees,  believed  on 
him  ?  Aye,  answer  us  that.  But  this  people,  who 
knoweth  not  the  law,  are  cursed. 

We  must  have  demonstration  to  sense.  Come  now, 
and  open  a  window  in  heaven,  raise  us  a  dead  man  to  life, 
give  us  manna,  as  God  gave  to  our  forefathers  ;  do  some- 
thing now,  here,  on  the  spot,  for  us,  in  our  presence. 
The  people  that  you  healed  yesterday,  the  bread  you 
created  for  seven  thousand,  are  nothing  to  us  ;  we  must 
have  present  experience  and  demonstration  ;  we  will  not 
take  your  testimony,  nor  their  testimony,  no,  nor  God's 
testimony,  without  sensible,  personal,  experimental  evi- 
dence. What  sign  showest  thou  then,  that  we  may  see  it 
ourselves,  and  believe  thee  ?  What  dost  thou  work  ? 
Come,  give  us  a  sign,  that  we  may  believe. 

It  was  the  same  bitter,  unbelieving,  taunting,  and  malig- 
nant spirit,  with  which  the  very  murderers  of  our  Blessed 
Lord  addressed  him,  suffering,  dying  on  the  cross.  If 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  41 

thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross. 
Aye,  if  he  be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  him  now  come  down 
from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe  him.  And  they  would 
not  have  believed,  even  if  he  had  come  down. 

Now  this  was  an  evil  spirit.  There  was  no  sincerity 
of  inquiry  in  it,  no  desire  after  the  truth,  no  preparation 
for  it.  It  was  an  evil  and  adulterous  generation  that 
thus  sought  after  a  sign.  Part  of  the  people  ran  after  the 
miracles,  as  they  would  after  the  tricks  of  a  magician,  or 
after  an  alchemist  who  could  produce  gold.  Ye  seek  me, 
not  because  ye  see  the  miracles,  but  because  ye  did  eat 
of  the  loaves  and  were  filled.  To  such  a  spirit  it  would 
have  been  folly  for  Christ  to  repeat  the  demonstrations  of 
his  divine  power  and  majesty.  Suppose  for  a  moment 
that  a  messenger  as  an  old  prophet  were  among  us,  prov- 
ing his  divine  mission  by  miracles,  converting  stones  into 
bread  ;  and  suppose  that  a  multitude  of  persons  should  run 
after  him,  with  baskets  on  their  arms,  calling  for  signs, 
begging  for  the  repetition  of  his  miracles,  that  their  bas- 
kets might  be  filled  with  loaves  :  would  he  do  right  to 
work  a  single  miracle  for  such  a  temper  ?  or,  for  the 
spirit  of  taunting  and  unbelief  and  idle  curiosity,  demand- 
ing the  display  of  miraculous  power  ?  Would  God  con- 
descend to  notice  that  ?  Would  it  be  just  to  gratify 
that  ?  But  if  one  came,  humbly  waiting  to  see  if  it  were 
really  God  that  was  speaking,  God  that  was  sending  his 
Word,  if  one  came  to  examine  and  to  see  and  to  listen, 
waiting  on  God,  and  comparing  all  things  with  his  Word, 
and  earnqjjly  imploring  his  guidance,  that  would  be  a  very 
different  spirit.  God:  might  regard  that  spirit,  and  might 
bring  that  soul,  in  his  providence,  where  it  would  find  an 
irresistible  evidence,  that  would  clear  all  doubt.  But  no 
just  evidence  is  clear  to  a  carping,  unbelieving  spirit, 
to  a  heart  unwilling  to  receive  divine  truth  on  God's 
testimony. 

Now  the  characteristic  of  unbelief  and  infidelity  is  to 
take  nothing  on  God's  testimony  merely,  nothing  without 


42  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

experience.  And.  of  course,  unbelief  is  death.  There  is 
nothing  within  the  whole  compass  of  our  reasoning  plainer 
than  this.  God's  testimony  is  given  to  faith,  on  the  one 
side,  that  believing,  we  may  avoid  experience,  the  experi- 
ence of  evil ;  on  the  other  side,  that  believing,  we  may 
secure  experience,  the  experience  of  good.  If  God's 
testimony  be  not  received,  if  there  be  not  faith  in  it,  and 
action  upon  it  accordingly,  there  follows  inevitably,  on  the 
one  side,  the  sufferance  of  the  thing  for  the  avoidance  of 
which  the  testimony  was  granted,  that  is,  the  eternal  ex- 
perience of  evil ;  and  on  the  other  side,  the*/oss  of  the 
thing  for  the  gaining  of  which  the  testimony  was  granted, 
that  is,  the  eternal  loss  of  all  good,  of  heaven's  blessedness. 
Without  belief  in  God's  testimony,  and  action  accordingly, 
there  is  neither  preparation  for,  nor  possibility  of  future 
blessedness.  All  active  life  springs  from  faith,  and  without 
faith  there  is  no  action.  It  is  faith,  in  some  form  or 
another,  that  drives  forward  the  whole  business  of  exist- 
ence. But  if  there  be  faith  in  self  alone,  and  in  present 
existence,  there  is  action  for  self  alone,  and  for  present 
enjoyment.  A  man  whose  creed  is  experience  alone,  and 
not  faith,  will  go  no  further  than  present  experience  and 
faith  in  himself  will  justify.  Of  course  he  will  live  and 
act  only  for  this  world,  and  not  for  God  and  eternity. 
The  things  of  the  eternal  world  are  unseen  and  eternal. 
They  are  revealed  to  faith,  and  can  be  known  only  by 
God's  testimony,  and  so  if  men  will  not  believe  that,  and 
act  accordingly,  but  persist  in  demanding  experience,  they 
will  go  on  with  neither  faith  nor  experience^,  they  will 
look  only  at  things  seen  and  temporal,  and  will  believe 
and  act  only  with  reference  to  this  life,  and  to  what  they 
experience  here.  They  will  put  off  acting  in  regard  to 
the  things  of  another  life,  until  they  have  the  same 
experience  of  that  life  that  they  have  of  this.  But  they 
cannot  have  that  here.  They  must  take  God's  testimony 
in  lieu  of  experience,  or  dare  the  desperate  hazard  of  going 
into  that  life  without  any  preparation  for  it,  trusting  self 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  43 

instead  of  God ;  the  hazard  of  going  into  that  life  to  act 
upon  experience  there ;  whereas  experience  there,  if  it  do 
not  follow  faith  here,  can  be  nothing  but  experience  of 
evil. 

For  this  is  the  great  point  of  God's  testimony  in  regard 
to  that  life,  that  both  the  evil  and  the  good  of  it  are  un- 
changeable and  endless,  and,  therefore,  whatever  a  man  is 
ever  going  to  do  in  regard  to  that  life  must  be  done  in  this  ; 
in  this,  or  not  at  all.  If  good  is  to  be  secured  in  that  life, it  must 
be  secured  in  God's  way,  and  secured  now  ;  there  is  no 
other  way  and  no  other  time.  And  if  evil  is  to  be  avoided 
in  that  life,  it  must  be  avoided  in  God's  way,  and  avoided 
now ;  there  is  no  other  way,  and  no  other  time.  And  if 
men,  required  to  believe  God  and  act  accordingly,  say  and 
insist  that  they  cannot  arid  will  not  believe  and  act  except 
from  experience,  they  just  deliberately  declare  a  reliance 
on  self,  and  a  distrust  of  God  ;  a  belief  that  self  is  infallible, 
but  that  God  may  be  a  liar.  This  is  God's  own  phrase- 
ology, or  we  would  not  dare  adopt  and  use  it ;  but  it  is 
God's.  Hath  made  God  a  liar, 

Here  is  one  consequence  of  unbelief ;  it  puts  the 
being  into  a  moral  attitude,  and  developes  a  moral  state, 
in  which,  according  to  God's  testimony,  and  we  may  add, 
man's  knowledge  (the  thing  being  clear  even  to  reason), 
if  a  man  dies  thus  and  enters  on  his  eternal  career,  he  is 
sinful  and  must  be  miserable.  He  is  at  odds  with  God  on 
the  question  which  is  to  be  trusted,  self  or  God,  and  on 
the  question  which  is  to  submit,  self  or  God  ;  and  the  very 
question  which  makes  him  an  enemy,  launches  him  into 
eternity  a  selfish  unbeliever,  with  a  lie  thrown  in  the  face 
of  God.  He  cannot  have  God's  blessing,  cannot  enter 
into  rest,  in  such  a  state ;  but,  under  the  same  law  of  sin 
and  death,  under  which  he  passed  through  this  world,  and 
entered  on  the  eternal  world,  under  that  same  law  he  must 
remain,  and  under  God's  curse  in  consequence.  For  the 
experience  to  which  he  looked  forward  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion whether  he  should  change  his  course,  whether  there 


44  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

would  be  any  need  to  change  it,  not  deeming  God's  testi- 
mony sufficient,  cannot  and  will  not  alter  his  character, 
and,  moreover,  neither  can  nor  will  leave  any  more  oppor- 
tunity or  possibility  of  change.  ? 

This  is  the  second  consequence.  The  experience, 
against  which  he  was  forewarned  of  God,  is  experience  of 
evil.  He  was  forewarned,  that  he  might  avoid  it,  and  fore- 
warned of  it  as  eternal,  and  because  it  is  eternal,  and  this 
life  the  only  opportunity  of  avoiding  it.  Consequently, 
if  he  dares  to  hazard  the  test  of  experience  on  this  ques- 
tion, he  does  it  at  an  infinite  hazard,  and  it  is  infinite 
madness  to  do  it.  The  experiment  of  faith,  to  which  God 
invites  him,  and  commands  him,  as  his  only  way  of  salva- 
tion, can  do  him  no  harm,  and  even  if  he  should  fail, 
would  leave  him  no  worse  off  than  before.  But  the  ex- 
periment of  experience,  if  that  goes  against  him,  if  he  finds 
by  that  that  God's  Word  was  true,  is  his  eternal  perdition. 
It  is  a  thing  that  seals  his  destiny,  a  thing  from  which  he 
cannot  turn  back,  an  experience  that,  by  the  very  terms 
of  the  contract,  so  to  speak,  if  he  enters  on  it,  is  eternal, 
and  ruins  his  soul.  The  experiment  is,  whether  there  be 
a  hell,  an  endless  hell.  He  says  to  himself,  If  there  be 
not,  then  I  have  no  need  to  deny  myself,  and  take  all  the 
trouble  of  faith  in  Christ,  submission  to  the  cross,  and  a 
belief  in  all  the  system  of  God's  revelation,  for  there  is  no 
such  danger  of  ruin  as  God's  testimony  declares.  But  if 
there  be,  what  then  ?  Why,  if  there  be  a  hell,  then, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  contract,  he  is  in  it ;  he 
knows  it,  by  being  an  inhabitant  of  it.  If  there  be,  it  is 
too  late  for  him  to  retract.  The  experience  to  which  he 
looked  forward,  questioning  whether  there  be  any  fires  of 
evil  in  eternity,  is  the  experience  of  hell-fire  itself.  This 
is  the  very  condition  of  his  experiment,  and  he  knows 
beforehand  that  if  it  goes  against  him,  it  does  so  for  ever, 
and  he  is  lost ;  and  yet  he  dares  hazard  it. 

He  hazards  it  in  spite  of  all  the  vast  array  of  means 
which  God  has  set  in  motion  to  prevent  his  hazarding  it, 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  45 

and  to  save  him  from  the  necessity  of  it.  He  hazards  it 
in  the  face  of  Christ  and  his  cross,  which  is  a  demonstra- 
tion to  the  universe,  and  not  only  a  provision  whereby  the 
soul  may  be  saved,  but  demonstration  that  without  faith  in 
Christ  the  ruin  of  the  soul  is  eternal.  He  rushes  to 
destruction  past  the  law  and  the  cross,  the  justice  and  the 
mercy  of  God,  standing  in  his  way.  The  arms  of  divine 
love,  at  the  expense  of  the  incarnation  and  death  of  the 
Son  of  God,  are  stretched  across  his  path  to  stop  him ; 
but  he  stoops  downward,  as  it  were,  to  avoid  .them,  and 
darts  beneath  and  beyond  them,  to  plunge  himself  into 
that  tempest  of  fire,  that  experiment  of  the  reality  of  hell, 
of  which  he  might  know,  by  the  cross  of  Christ  itself, 
that  there  could  be  no  more  question  than  of  the  reality 
of  his  own  existence  as  a  sinner.  But  he  is  gone,  gone 
past  recovery ;  and  his  soul  knows  the  fire  of  hell,  by 
having  its  windows  opened  upon  him,  and  the  fountains 
of  its  great  deep  broken  up  within  him.  And  so  knowing 
it,  he  knows  that  it  is  eternal. 

Now  this  was  the  scepticism  and  consequent  experience 
of  the  rich  man  of  Christ's  parable,  in  contrast  with  the 
faith  and  consequent  experience  of  Lazarus.  He  was,  in 
all  probability,  a  Sadducee.  He  had  questioned  or 
denied  the  great  truth  of  future  endless  retributions  drawn 
from  the  writings  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets.  The  testi- 
mony of  God  had  not  been  enough  for  him.  He  had 
questioned  the  reality  of  a  future  state,  and  so  doing,  he 
said,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die." 
Accordingly,  his  whole  life  was,  to  be  clothed  in  fine  linen, 
and  to  fare  sumptuously  every  day.  But  in  rejecting  the 
testimony  of  God,  he  took  upon  himself  the  responsibility 
of  the  consequences,  if  that  testimony  should  be  found 
true.  And  in  hell  he  met  the  solution  of  his  doubts,  and 
the  eternal  end  of  his  scepticism.  "  In  hell  he  lifted  up 
his  eyes,  being  in  torments."  It  was  nothing  but  the 
world  of  experience,  the  world  which  he  had  chosen  as 
his  own.  And  now,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  was 


46  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

anxious  to  have  the  same  drama  played  over  with  regard 
to  his  unbelieving  'brethren,  which  he  had  so  often  on 
earth  demanded  should  be  played  with  himself ;  that  is, 

that  one  should  be  sent  to  them  from  the  dead,  for  thev 

i     .  j 

would  not  hear  Moses  and  the  Prophets.  They  would  not 
believe  on  God's  Word,  but  demanded  sense  and  experience. 
"  Nay,  father  Abraham,  but  if  one  went  unto  them  from 
the  dead,  they  will  believe."  I  should  myself  have  believed, 
had  some  dead  messenger  come  to  me  from  this  fiery  gulf. 
And  the  calm,  serene,  holy  majesty  of  heaven  answers, 
"  They  have  Moses  and  the  Prophets  ;  let  them  hear  them. 
If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  neither  would 
they  believe,  though  one  rose  from  the  dead/' 

Now  there  is  no  describing,  in  adequate  colors,  the  mad- 
ness and  the  guilt  of  such  infinite  presumption.  If  a  man 
should  throw  himself  into  a  caldron  of  red  hot  boiling 
potash,  saying  that  he  wished  to  ascertain  by  experiment 
whether  it  would  destroy  life,  no  question  would  be  had  as 
to  his  insanity.  If  a  man  should  throw  himself  into  the 
crater  of  Vesuvius,  saying  that  he  doubted  the  stories  told 
about  its  fires  were  mere  stories,  and  he  wished  the  testi- 
mony of  experience ;  no  doubt  would  be  had  in  regard  to 
his  insanity.  If  a  man  of  a  company  travelling  across 
the  country  in  the  direction  of  the  terrible  volcanic  lake 
of  Kailua,  should  say  to  his  companions,  There  is  no 
need  of  our  going  such  a  round-about  way  to  get  to  the 
other  side  ;  it  will  take  so  many  hours,  and  such  fatiguing 
labor ;  so  wearisome  an  expedition,  that  for  my  part  I 
choose  to  go  directly  across  the  lake.  But  you  are  mad, 
his  companions  would  say  ;  you  know  better ;  you  cannot 
touch  the  lake  with  the  sole  of  your  foot  without  destruc- 
tion. But  I  do  not  believe  that,  answers  the  man,  and  I 
am  determined  not  to  believe,  except  by  experience. 
Why,  thou  reckless,  thou  infinite  fool,  they  might  answer 
him,  thou  canst  not  touch  thy  body  to  the  fire  without 
death,  and  wilt  thou  hazard  thyself  in  such  madness  ? 
But  the  man  thinks  he  has  a  garment  of  asbestos,  that 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  47 

will  keep  him  from  burning,  and  so,  while  his  companions 
take  their  way  around  the  borders  of  the  volcano,  he 
marches  straight  in  the  direction  across  it,  and  perishes. 
Just  this,  but  infinitely  worse,  is  the  madness  that  dares 
the  experiment  of  the  fires  of  hell,  as  a  matter  of  experi- 
ence. 

In  the  nature  of  things,  in  regard  to  the  evil  in  eternity, 
of  which  men  are  warned,  they  cannot  have  the  evidence 
of  experience,  but  must  take  that  of  faith,  which  is  given 
for  this  very  purpose,  that  that  of  experience  may  be 
avoided,  may  not  be  incurred,  it  being  eternal. 

We  may  and  must  solemnly  reflect  upon  this  point.  We 
must  call  to  mind  again  the  great  reason  why  a  revelation 
from  God  is  given  at  all,  which  is  because  the  destiny  to 
come  is  an  eternal  one,  because  the  heaven  to  be  lost,  if 
lost,  is  eternal,  and  the  retributions  to  be  endured,  if 
endured  at  all,  are  eternal.  We  may  safely  say,  that  if 
this  were  not  the  case,  there  would  have  been  no  revelation, 
because  no  need  of  such  an  interposition  of  the  Almighty 
as  that  revelation  supposes  and  discloses.  The  human 
race  could  as  well  have  gone  on  and  have  been  saved 
without  a  revelation  as  with  one.  The  very  fact  on 
which  that  revelation  is  grounded  is  the  fact  of  a  future 
state  of  endless  retribution,  to  which  this  world,  according 
to  the  character  formed  in  it,  is  an  introduction.  What 
makes  God's  warnings  so  awfully  impressive  is,  that  they 
are  warnings  as  to  a  threatened  experience  which  is  end- 
less. There  is  no  return  from  it,  no  change  of  it,  after  it 
be  once  entered.  Heaven  is  changeless  in  enjoyment, 
hell  is  changeless  in  misery ;  heaven  in  holiness,  hell  in 
sin.  This  is  what  has  produced  a  revelation.  This 
eternity  of  our  future  condition  has  made  the  Cross  a 
reality ;  for  without  it  there  had  been  no  Saviour  suffering, 
dying,  and  no  need  of  one.  And  the  cross  itself,  the  sys- 
tem of  redemption,  this  vast,  incomprehensible,  all-com- 
prehending transaction,  demonstrates  that  eternal  retribu- 
tion, and  makes  its  eternity  a  reality.  The  system  itself, 


48  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND. 

the  gospel  itself,  in  the  character  of  the  sinner,  and  the 
character  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  such,  that  if  accepted,  it 
secures  heaven  as  eternal ;  but  if  rejected,  is  death  unto 
death,  and  renders  hell  both  inevitable  and  eternal.  It  is 
under  these  circumstances  that  God  has  said  that  there  is 
no  way  or  possibility  of  salvation  except  through  Christ, 
and  that  he  has  added  to  this  the  warning  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  TO-DAY  !  "  To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice, 
harden  not  your  hearts."  And  why  not  To-morrow? 
Because,  To-morrow  may  be  ETERNITY,  instead  of  being 
a  new  To-day.  To-morrow,  when  put  in  the  bosom  of 
To-day,  is  sacrificed  beforehand.  The  evil  that  is  not 
believed  in,  and  so  felt  by  faith  as  present,  to-day,  will 
to-morrow,  if  to-morrow  comes,  be  still  less  believed  in, 
and  still  less  felt  as  present.  Because  sentence  against 
an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore  the  heart 
of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil. 

"Not  that  which  full  of  life,  instinct  with  power, 
Makes  known  its  present  being ;  that  is  not 
The  true,  the  perilously  formidable." 

Men  are  on  their  guard  against  that;  men  flee  from 
that,  because  they  see  and  feel  it. 

"  O  no  !  it  is  the  common,  the  quite  common, 
The  thing  of  an  eternal  yesterday, 
What  ever  was,  and  evermore  returns, 
Sterling  to-morrow, for  to-day  'twas  sterling! 
For  of  the  wholly  common  is  man  made, 
And  custom  is  his  nurse." 

Yea,  the  custom  of  security  to-day  makes  men  feel  that 
to-morrow  shall  be  as  this  day,  and  much  more  abundant. 
Faith  in  To-morrow,  instead  of  Christ,  is  Satan's  nurse, 
for  man's  perdition. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Sympathy  with  God  and  sympathy  with  man. — Faith  in  God's  Word,  faith  in 
God's  holiness  and  justice,  and  faith  in  man's  guilt,  the  elements  of  power 
in  leading  the  Soul  to  faith  in  Chrifct  the  Saviour. — Comparison  of  Edwards 
and  Whitefield. — Comparison  of  revivals  of  religion  as  produced  mainly 
by  true  sympathy  with  God,  and  a  regard  to  his  glory,  or  mainly  by 
sympathy  with  man  and  the  desire  of  salvation. 

THE  view  we  have  taken  in  the  preceding  chapters  con- 
cerning the  necessity  of  faith  in  the  evil  as  well  as  the 
good  disclosed  of  God  awaiting  us  in  the  eternal  world, 
is  attended  with  important  consequences  as  to  the  elements 
of  Christian  power  and  usefulness.  It  is  manifest  that 
sympathy  with  God  is  to  be  coveted  and  relied  upon 
rather  than  sympathy  with  man.  It  is  manifest  that  all 
righteous  and  truly  useful  sympathy  with  man  grows  out 
of  sympathy  with  God,  and  cannot  exist  without  it.  Here 
is  the  line  between  a  true  and  false  theology,  and  a  genuine 
and  spurious  benevolence.  Heartfelt  benevolence  is  the 
child  of  faith  in  God ;  so  is  all  correct  theology ;  we  are 
thrown  upon  simple  faith  in  God's  Word.  There  must  be 
faith  in  God,  simply  and  alone,  as  to  the  nature  and  con- 
sequences of  sin  in  an  untried  world,  as  to  God's  own 
feelings  towards  the  sinner  and  his  treatment  of  him,  and 
as  to  the  eternity  of  future  punishment.  There  must  be 
faith  in  God  as  to  all  these  points,  above  all  human  sym- 
pathy, and  then  true  human  sympathy  will  proceed  out  of 
that  faith.  But  if  we  begin  with  human  sympathy,  and 
reason  from  that  towards  God,  we  shall  believe  man  rather 

3 


50  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

than  God,  we  shall  color  our  theology  by  our  wishes  and 
our  suppositions  of  what  we  think  ought  to  be,  instead  of 
what  we  learn  from  God's  Word  is.  This  is  a  habit 
that  destroys  faith,  which  must  receive  its  knowledge  of 
God's  government  from  God  himself,  toot  man. 

We  have  experience  of  some  things,  but  for  all  that  lies 
beyond  our  experience,  we  must  trust  God.  We  have 
experience  of  sin  in  ourselves,  but  if  our  faith  goes  no 
further  than  experience,  we  shall  have  radically  defective 
views  both  of  human  depravity  and  of  its  deserts  and 
consequences.  We  have  experience  of  sin  in  ourselves, 
but  our  examination  of  that  experience  is  necessarily 
superficial,  even  because  of  our  own  sinfulness  ;  and  in 
regard  to  God's  view  of  sin,  and  his  treatment  of  it,  we 
are  thrown  entirely  upon  faith.  Hence,  the  amazing 
power  of  great  faith  in  God,  which  gives  a  man  command 
of  the  deepest  depths  of  human  experience,  and  enables 
him  to  master  an  experience  in  man,  on  the  authority  of 
God,  beyond  the  measurement  of  individual  consciousness, 
and  to  wield  it  as  an  element  of  irresistible  conviction. 
Faith  in  God  carries  a  man  to  depths  of  self-knowledge, 
and  knowledge  of  human  nature,  otherwise  unattainable. 
A  man  under  the  guidance  of  it  may  be  ploughing  into 
the  souls  of  men  in  furrows  of  depravity  never  before  laid 
open,  perhaps  unsuspected  and  unacknowledged,  at  sight 
of  which  the  complacent  self-consciousness,  that  would 
have  gnashed  its  teeth  in  rebellion,  becomes  the  enlight- 
ened, wounded,  angry  conscience,  that  indicts  the  soul  in 
guilt  before  God. 

But  there  must  be  faith  in  God's  Word ;  the  source  of 
this  power  is  that  faith,  faith  both  in  God  and  man  as  pre- 
sented in  God's  Word.  It  is  the  possession  or  deficiency 
of  this  element  of  faith  in  God  as  presented  in  his  Word, 
that  constitutes  power  or  weakness  in  the  soul ;  and  in  the 
presentation  of  the  subject,  produces  either  unmingled, 
majestic,  overwhelming  truth,  or  a  mixture  of  falsehood. 
It  was  this  faith  in  God's  Word,  and  in  God  as  presented 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  51 

in  his  Word,  that  made  one  of  the  elements,  perhaps  the 
grand  element,  of  irresistible  power  in  the  ministry  of 
Jonathan  Edwards.  It  was  the  deficiency  of  this  faith 
that  made  the  element  of  weakness  and  poverty  in  the 
ministry  of  John  Foster,  who,  powerful  and  clear  as  he 
was  in  the  excavation  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  pro- 
vince of  religious  morality,  and  splendid  as  his  genius  was, 
in  grandeur  of  imagination,  profound  thought,  and  exquisite 
taste  and  sensibility,  was  shorn  of  his  power,  and  betrayed 
into  lamentable  weakness  on  the  point  on  which  he  doubted, 
on  the  views  of  God's  government  and  man's  destiny, 
which  he  did  not  take  from  the  Word  of  God.  We  bring 
these  two  great  minds  together  for  illustration.  Edwards 
believed  and  reasoned  ;  Foster  doubted  and  reasoned ;  both 
reasoned  strongly,  but  Edwards  in  God's  light,  Foster  in 
man's  twilight.  In  the  light  there  are  nothing  but  clear, 
well-defined,  not  doubtful  objects  ;  in  the  twilight  there  is 
gathering  gloom  and  perplexity  ;  you  may  mistake  a  man 
for  a  tree.  Edwards  was  clear  and  irresistible,  Foster 
perplexed  and  hesitating  ;  Edwards  had  the  certainty  of 
God,  Foster  the  uncertainty  of  man.  Edwards  accepted 
the  character  and  administration  of  God,  as  presented  in 
his  Word;  he  saw  God  in  God's  own  light,  not  man's. 
Foster  let  it  be  colored  through  the  prism  of  the  sympathy 
of  man  with  man ;  he  saw  God  and  his  administration 
through  man's  miseries  and  sins,  instead  of  seeing  man's 
sins  through  God.  What  an  incomparably  higher  position 
of  observation,  light,  and  power,  was  that  of  Edwards  ! 

And  here  much  depends  upon  personal  experience  at 
the  outset.  Deep  conviction  of  sin,  and  heartfelt  contrition 
for  it,  are  great  helps  to  faith  in  God's  Word  ;  they  make 
a  man  take  God's  part  against  himself,  and  against  the 
sinner,  instead  of  taking  the  sinner's  part  against  God. 
The  truly  contrite  heart,  enlightened  as  to  God's  holiness, 
and  filled  with  his  love,  rejoices  in  God's  sovereignty,  and 
in  all  God's  judgments.  Such  a  heart  speaks  of  God  at 
once  from  the  secret  place  of  thunder,  and  the  deepest 


52  GRACE     AND    TRUTH, 

springs  of  love.  He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things, 
while  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man.  Sympathy  with 
God  gives  prodigious  power  over  man ;  it  carries  all 
things  before  it.  While  Edwards  was  preaching  his 
stupendous  sermon,  "  Sinners  in  thfe  hands  of  an  angry 
God,"  it  was  his  high,  holy,  perfect  sympathy  with  God, 
that  raised  him  to  such  a  gigantic,  almost  superhuman 
effort.  The  sermon  might  remind  one  of  the  rolling 
thunder  of  the  fierce  chariot  of  Messiah,  as  described  by 
Milton,  driven,  gloomy  as  night,  against  the  sinning 
angels,  and  shaking  the  steadfast  empyrean  in  its  whirl- 
wind round.  That  sermon  was  made  up  out  of  three 
mighty  elements,  which  in  our  time  are  much  wanting  : 
faith  in  God's  Word,  faith  in  God's  holiness  and  justice, 
and  faith  in  man's  guilt.  For  concentrated,  intense,  glow- 
ing fire  and  power,  it  is  like  what  men's  ideal  might  per- 
haps be  of  the  mightiest  of  Demosthenes'  orations.  It  is 
awful  beyond  expression  in  its  gloomy  grandeur,  but 
irresistibly  powerful  in  its  onward  increasing  pressure  of 
truth,  which  is  like  that  vast  volcanic  cataract  of  fire  that 
we  have  read  of  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  precipitated 
over  a  perpendicular  mountain  wall  of  rock,  sheer  into 
the  ocean. 

That  sermon  wras  borne  out,  every  sentence  of  it,  by 
the  Word  of  God ;  borne  out  by  the  demonstration  of 
man's  guilt  and  danger  in  the  fact  that  Christ  died  for 
sinners  ;  and  borne  out  by  the  words  of  the  beloved  and 
loving  disciple,  that  "  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  of  God 
shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him." 
We  think  that  John,  when  he  used  such  expressions  in  the 
gospel,  and  repeated  them  in  various  forms  in  the  book  of 
Revelations,  had  quite  as  much  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,  as  those  who,  in  our  day,  undertake  to  criticize 
Edwards  for  not  properly  representing  the  Divine  benevo- 
lence. The  sermon  which  he  preached,  to  which  we  have 
referred,  was  in  the  midst  of  the  great  work  of  God's 
grace  in  1741,  and  it  was  honored  of  God  by  the  imme- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  53 

diate  conversion  of  souls.  And  the  truth  is  that  all 
true,  genuine,  lasting  sympathy  for  man  and  benevolence 
to  man  must  have  for  its  foundation  a  real  and  genuine 
sympathy  with  God's  holiness  and  justice  ;  if  not,  it  is 
radically  defective.  There  is  a  sickly  pretence  of  com- 
passionate and  tender  feeling,  that  shudders  at  such 
representations  of  God's  justice  as  are  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  but  it  is  because  there  is  more  of  sympathy  with 
man  as  a  sinner,  than  with  God  as  a  holy  God.  Sympathy 
with  God,  and  a  regard  to  his  glory,  was  at  the  bottom  of 
the  great  revival  in  Edwards's  day  ;  sympathy  with  man 
has  been  more  characteristic  of  the  revivals  in  our  day. 
The  lack  of  sympathy  with  God  is  that  deficiency  in 
Christian  character,  which  makes  even  true  revivals  of 
religion  of  short  duration,  and  permits  the  mixture  in  them 
of  extraneous  and  superficial  ingredients.  Sympathy 
with  man  makes  a  periodical  and  fitful  piety  ;  sympathy 
with  God  a  deepening  and  enduring  piety,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

Now  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  play  upon  men's  sym- 
pathies, and  to  stir  them  deeply  and  powerfully ;  but  it 
is  not  so  easy  to  raise  men  to  adoring,  submissive, 
reverential,  and  loving  views  of  God's  holiness  and  justice. 
These  two  things  must  be  mingled.  But  whereas  the  last 
may  be  exceedingly  powerful  with  but  little  of  the  first, 
the  first  will  be  powerless  or  useless  without  the  last.  And 
whereas  a  great  degree  of  the  last,  a  true  and  deep  sym- 
pathy with  God,  will  certainly  and  inevitably  be  productive 
of  true  and  deep  sympathy  with  man  (though  from  defect 
of  natural  tenderness  of  sensibility,  or  want  of  suitableness 
of  manner  and  of  illustration,  it  may  not  so  clearly  appear), 
mere  sympathy  with  man  is  by  no  means  sure  of  being 
accompanied  or  followed  by  sympathy  with  God. 

The  celebrated  Whitefield  possessed  a  natural  constitu- 
tional sympathy  with  man  to  a  remarkable  degree, 
sanctified  by  Divine  grace,  and  sustained  and  carried  out 
by  a  great  and  true  sympathy  with  God,  and  a  theology 


54  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

that  abased  man  and  exalted  God.  Whitefield  and 
Edwards  may  be  advantageously  compared,  as  instances, 
the  first  of  preponderating  sympathy  with  man,  the  last  of 
preponderating  sympathy  with  God  ;  but  both  men  of 
extraordinary  piety,  extraordinary  attainments  in  holiness, 
though  as  to  vastness  and  strength  of  intellect  there  could 
scarcely  be  a  comparison.  Whitefield  could  never  have 
preached  Edwards's  sermon,  "  Sinners  in  the  hands  of  an 
angry  God ;"  it  would  not  have  been  in  his  nature,  either 
of  mind  or  heart.  He  would  have  been  compelled  to  stop 
forty  times  to  present  the  love  of  Christ  amidst  the 
thunders  of  the  law,  and  to  weep  and  exclaim  with  his 
congregation,  in  tones  of  sympathizing  tenderness  and 
love.  And  the  concentrated,  deepening  power  of  the 
sermon,  and  its  intolerable  pressure  upon  the  conscience, 
increasing  to  the  close,  would  have  been  weakened  and 
lightened  thereby,  while  its  power  over  men's  sympathies 
would  have  been  immeasurably  augmented.  There  would 
have  been  all  the  difference,  and  more  than  all,  that  \ve 
might,  under  certain  circumstances,  conceive  between  the 
effect  of  Old  Hundred,  or  Luther's  Judgment  Hymn,  and 
a  melody  like  Woodstock,  in  the  words, 

"  There  is  n  fountain  filled  with  blood, 
Drawn  from  Iminanuel's  veins." 

Each  of  these  preachers  might  have  been  more  power- 
ful by  a  participation  in  each  other's  excellences  and 
peculiar  elements  of  power.  Edwards  stood  nearer  to 
God,  Whitefield  stood  nearer  to  man.  There  was  more 
in  Whitefield  with  which  an  ordinary  congregation  could 
sympathize ;  he  was  nearer  to  the  level  of  all  men  wher- 
ever he  addressed  them  ;  and  he  possessed  a  surpassing 
persuasiveness  and  eloquence  of  manner,  of  which 
Edwards  was  almost  entirely  destitute. 

The  case  of  Whitefield's  sermon  on  the  text,  "When 
he  saw  many  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  come  to  his 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  55 

baptism,  he  said  unto  them,  O  generation  of  vipers !  who 
hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  ?"  may 
be  compared  with  that  of  Edwards  on  the  text,  "  Their 
feet  shall  slide  in  due  time."  An  irreligious  young  man, 
converted  through  the  instrumentality  of  Whitefield's 
preaching  on  that  occasion,  has  given  some  account  of  it. 
"  Mr.  Whitefield,"  said  he,  in  relating  this  passage  in  the 
history  of  his  own  immortal  life,  "  described  the  Sadducean 
character ;  this  did  not  touch  me.  I  thought  myself  as 
good  a  Christian  as  any  man  in  England.  From  this  he 
went  to  that  of  the  Pharisees.  He  described  their  exterior 
decency,  but  observed  that  the  poison  of  the  viper  rankled 
in  their  hearts.  This  rather  shook  me.  At  length,  in  the 
course  of  the  sermon,  he  abruptly  broke  off,  paused  for  a 
few  moments,  then  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  lifted  up  his 
hands  and  eyes,  and  exclaimed;-'  Oh  my  hearers !  the  wrath 
to  come  !  the  wrath  to  come  !'  These  words  sank  deep 
into  my  heart  like  lead  in  the  waters.  I  wept,  and  when 
the  sermon  was  ended,  retired  alone.  For  days  and 
weeks  I  could  think  of  little  else.  Those  awful  words 
would  follow  me,  wherever  I  went,  *  The  wrath  to  come  ! 
The  ujra^h  to  come  !' '  And  that  sound,  and  that  text, 
borne  into  his  soul  on  the  thrilling  tones  of  Whitefield's 
impassioned  voice,  was  God's  instrument  for  that  indi- 
vidual's conversion.  He  made  a  public  profession  of 
religion,  and  became  a  very  eminent  preacher  of  the 
gospel. 

Now  if  Edwards  had  been  preaching  on  that  text,  he 
never  would  have  stopped  thus,  and  lifted  up  his  hands 
and  wept ;  what  was  nature  and  habit  in  Whitefield  would 
have  been  theatrical  affectation  in  Edwards  ;  he  would 
have  gone  on  steady  with  God's  wrath  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter.  Unquestionably  Whitefield's  own  sermon,  in 
Whitefield's  hands,  was  more  impressive  and  effective  than 
it  could  have  been  in  Edwards's  hands.  But  the  foundation 
of  its  impressiveness  was  the  same  ingredient  of  the  wrath 
of  God  ;  and  although  Edwards  had  more  of  sympathy 


56  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

with  God's  holiness  and  justice,  and  less  of  constitutional 
sympathy  with  man's  sensibilities,  there  was  in  each  the 
same  view  of  the  action  of  the  Divine  attributes  in  regard 
to  sin  and  the  sinner,  the  same  glowing  love  to  Christ, 
and  the  same  heartfelt  compassion  for  souls  consequent 
thereon. 

There  was  in  Edwards  a  wonderful  simplicity  and 
power  of  faith  in  God's  Word,  combined  with  a  vast  com- 
prehension of  its  meaning.  There  was  a  wonderful  union 
of  faith  in  God's  Word  and  experience  of  God's  life. 
These  two  things  grew  together,  and  strengthened  and 
reacted  upon  each  other.  Faith  in  God  alone,  to  a  certain 
degree,  may  be  merely  human,  but  faith  in  God's  Word  is 
divine.  A  degree  of  faith  in  God  is  perhaps  so  constitu- 
tional, that  no  man  is  born  into  the  world  and  grows  up 
without  it.  But  faith  in  God's  Word  is  the  work  of  God's 
Spirit.  Faith  in  God's  Word,  and  that  faith  in  God  which 
springs  from  his  Word  as  the  seed  of  it  in  the  soul,  is  the 
spring  of  all  power.  There  can  be  no  true  faith  in  God 
not  founded  in,  and  springing  from,  his  Word.  Since 
Christ  came,  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father,  or  knoweth 
the  Father,  but  by  Him  ;  and  of  Him,  the  Word  is  the 
only  revelation.  Mere  faith  in  God,  or  the  conviction 
that  God  is,  and  that  he  judges  his  accountable  creatures, 
to  which  degree  of  belief  nature  herself  may  rise,  must  be, 
with  fallen  creatures,  mostly,  if  not  merely,  fear.  But 
faith  in  God's  Word  receives  God  as  revealed  in  Christ, 
and  beholds  in  him  a  forgiving  God,  and  when  perfected 
in  love,  casteth  out  fear.  Belief  in  God  may  be  a  bondage, 
like  the  faith  of  devils  ;  belief  in  God's  Word  is  a  child- 
like, filial  trust  in  God's  attributes  ;  it  is  the  belief  of 
love,  the  exercise  of  the  heart.  It  is  neither  constraint 
by  conscience,  nor  compulsion  by  mere  argument.  It  is 
the  spontaneous  synthesis  of  reason  and  the  affections,  of 
logic  and  love,  seeing  God  in  his  Word,  knowing  God 
through  his  Word.  It  knows  God,  because,  with  the 
witness  of  the  Spirit,  it  sees,  hears,  knows,  the  Word. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND.  57 

It  hears  and  knows  the  Word,  because,  by  the  witness  of 
the  Spirit,  it  knows  God.  "  My  sheep  hear  my  voice.  I 
know  my  sheep,  and  am  known  of  mine."  A  stranger's 
voice  will  they  not  hear,  but  the  voice  of  the  Shepherd 
they  distinguish  and  know.  It  is  a  sensitiveness,  a  deli- 
cacy, a  positive  knowledge  of  the  heaven-taught  soul, 
which  might  be  called  a  spiritual,  heavenly  instinct. 

But  this  faith  leads  the  soul  to  consult  the  Word,  and 
not  man  nor  self,  for  all  its  knowledge  of  God's  attributes, 
and  of  the  action  of  those  attributes  towards  man.  Such 
a  soul  will  not  consult  a  priori  reasoning,  or  the  senti- 
mentality of  mere  human  sympathy,  to  see  what  God  will 
do  with  sinful  man,  or  what  are  God's  feelings  towards  the 
sinner,  but  submissively  and  confidently  takes  God's  Word, 
and  sympathizes  with  God,  as  there  exhibited.  This  was 
the  grand  source  of  the  power  of  Edwards,  and  the 
strength  of  his  theology.  He  took  what  he  found  in  God's 
Word,  and  proclaimed  it,  whether  men  would  hear  or 
forbear. 

He  told  men,  from  God's  Word,  that  God  is  angry  with 
the  wicked  every  day,  and  that  God  hates  all  the  workers 
of  iniquity  ;  a  thing  which  God,  as  a  holy  God,  must  do, 
and  which  if  he  did  not  do,  he  would  never  have  given 
his  Son  to  die  for  them.  For  if  sin  were  not  so  great,  so 
odious,  so  dreadful  and  terrible  an  evil,  so  malignant 
against  all  good,  so  destructive  of  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
universe  of  God,  and  so  opposed  to  every  attribute  of 
God,  as  to  make  God  of  necessity  hate  the  sinner,  there 
would  be  nothing  in  sin  so  terrible  as  that  God  could  not 
save  the  sinner  without  Christ's  dying  for  him  ;  there 
would  be  nothing,  indeed,  in  sin  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be 
absolute  perdition  to  the  soul.  For  there  never  can  be 
perdition  to  anybody  or  anything,  on  which  God's  wrath 
does  not  lie  eternally  ;  and  it  is  impossible  that  God's 
wrath  should  lie  eternally  on  any  being  or  thing,  which  he 
does  not  eternally,  and  by  the  necessity  of  his  own  good- 
ness, hate. 

3* 


58  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Therefore,  when  in  John  it  is  said  that  "  he  that 
believeth  not  the  Son,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him," 
it  is  merely  and  only  a  repetition  of  what  is  said  in  the 
fifth  Psalm,  "  Thou  hatest  all  the  workers  of  iniquity." 
God  cannot  do  otherwise  than  hate  them,  from  the  very 
necessity  of  his  own  goodness.  Nay,  from  'the  necessity 
of  his  own  mercy  and  love  to  the  universe,  he  must  hate 
sinners,  because  they,  as  sinners,  are  living  only  to  the 
injury  and  pain  and  suffering  of  the  universe,  and  God 
cannot  love  them.  In  just  as  much  as  God  loves  the 
happiness  of  the  universe,  and  the  well-being  of  the  soul, 
he  must  hate  the  sinner.  It  is  because  he  hates  the  sinner, 
as  a  sinner,  but  knows  the  value  of  the  soul,  and  loves  the 
soul,  that  he  has  given  his  own  Son  to  die,  that  sinners 
may  be  saved ;  and  the  salvation  of  sinners  is  their  being 
brought  out  from  that  state  of  character,  in  which  God 
could  not  but  hate  them,  into  that  glorious  and  blessed 
change  and  state  of  character,  in  Christ,  in  which  God 
can  and  does  love  them.  And  he  himself  brings  them  out 
of  that  state,  and  he  himself  changes  and  saves  them ; 
changes  and  saves  them,  because  he  loves  their  welfare 
while  he  hates  their  character,  and  knows  that  their  wel- 
fare is  impossible,  while  their  character  is  such  that  a  holy 
God  must  hate  it. 

The  source  of  power  over  man  is  a  living  faith  in 
God  and  sympathy  with  God,  as  thus  revealed  and  ex- 
hibited in  his  Word.  We  must  go  to  the  RECORD,  and 
there  learn  what  God  is,  and  what  man  is ;  what  is  due 
to  God's  glory,  and  what  is  essential  to  man's  good. 
Without  this  embedding  of  the  soul  in  the  Word,  all  our 
revival  piety  is  convulsive,  and  needs  both  reviving  and 
steadying.  Without  this,  it  is  not  so  much  faith  in  God, 
a  mighty,  calm,  deep  possession  of  our  souls  by  the  things 
of  the  gospel,  an  oceanic  and  eternal  life,  as  it  is  unstable 
and  constitutional  sympathy ;  not  so  much  faith,  as  it  is 
sight  ;  not  so  much  God  and  his  glory,  as  it  is  men  and 
churches.  The  piety  of  the  Apostles  and  Reformers  was 


CHRIST    IN    THE     MIND.  59 

God-ward,  ours  is  man-ward.  Theirs  was  self-absorption 
in  God,  self-crucifixion  in  Christ,  baptism  and  vitality  in 
God's  Word  ;  ours  is  self-glorification  in  Christianity  as 
perfecting  the  world  and  mankind,  evangelization  as  the 
remedy  of  the  world's  evils,  and  a  living  on  God's  Word 
from  hand  to  mouth.  They  took  their  stand-point  in 
God  and  the  Cross ;  we  ours  in  man  and  expediency. 
They  said  that  God  must  be  glorified,  we  say  that  men 
must  be  saved.  Vastly  higher,  deeper,  broader  is  the  piety 
that  says  God  must  be  glorified,  than  the  piety  that  merely 
says,  man  must  be  saved.  A  man  may,  indeed,  do  much 
by  the  last ;  the  last,  if  genuine,  is  the  fruit  of  the  first ; 
the  first  comprehends  the  last,  produces  it,  and  is  its  only 
source  and  sustaining  energy.  A  church  filled  with  the 
first,  with  a  desire  for  God's  glory,  and  bowed  down 
beneath  its  power,  will  move  on  in  the  work  of  the  world's 
salvation  with  a  majesty,  a  calmness,  an  unwavering 
resolution,  a  steady  lustre,  and  a  mighty  triumph,  while 
sympathy  for  man  alone  will  be  periodical, .  fickle,  often 
desponding,  and  easily  perplexed. 

These  two  things  must  be  combined ;  and  when  God 
trains  a  church  that  truly  and  thoroughly  unites  them,  it 
will  be  the  most  glorious  and  powerful  exhibition  of  grace 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  cannot  be  that  the  church, 
intended  of  God  to  be  the  world's  true  measure  and  mode, 
both  of  time  and  rest,  should  ever  be  swinging,  as  a 
vast  pendulum,  between  extremes.  And  these  extremes, 
in  their  negation  and  ignorance  one  of  another,  have 
maintained  in  the  world  a  series  of  defective  and  almost 
antagonistical  presentations  of  piety  ;  a  pretended  ecstatic 
piety  in  the  contemplation  of  God,  which  never  comes 
down  in  sympathy  and  contact  with  man's  guilt  and 
misery,  or  a  morality  and  sympathy  towards  man,  which 
never  rises  to  its  only  true  fountain  in  the  love  of  God. 

The  vast  corruptions  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Church 
have  been  occupied  in  crucifying  a  living  Christ ;  the 
formal  preservations  and  presentations  of  Christianity  and 


60  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    MIND. 

of  the  Church  have  been  occupied  in  embalming  a  dead 
Christ.  The  first  have  been  busy  adorning,  glorifying,  and 
strengthening  their  despotic  hierarchies  ;  the  last  have 
been  engaged  in  cutting  and  drying  their  dogmatic  ortho- 
doxies. Between  both,  the  work  of  Christ  and  his  Church 
in  this  guilty,  dying  world,  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost, 
has  been  fearfully  neglected.  Now  shall  at  length  come 
the  period,  when  truth  shall  no  longer  be  tossed  in  a 
gorgeous  robe  between  Herod  and  Pilate,  nor  crucified  by 
a  remorseless  hierarchy  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  life  of  its 
own  despotism,  nor  laid  up  for  mere  speculation,  as  form 
without  love.  In  the  world,  as  in  individual  loving  hearts, 
it  shall  be  Grace  and  Truth,  in  the  form  and  activity  of 
Love ;  a  supreme  regard  to  God's  glory  producing  man's 
highest  good. 


DEVELOPMENT,    DISCIPLINE, 


AND 


FKUITS   OF   FAITH, 


PART  SECOND. 

GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 
CHRIST     IN     THE     AFFECTIONS. 


WINDINGS   OF  THE    KIVEK, 
CONTINUED. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Schoolmaster  and  the  Father. — The  Servant  and  the  Child. — Faith  pro- 
duced by  the  combustion  of  God's  promises  with  man's  sins. 

THERE  is  a  great  difference  between  God's  light  upon  the 
mind,  disclosing  sin,  and  God's  light  in  Christ,  disclosing 
grace,  pardon,  and  life.  God  comes  through  Moses  to  the 
mind  and  conscience,  and  makes  the  soul  see  and  feel  the 
need  of  Christ,  see  and  feel  the  burden  of  sin,  which  no  being 
but  Christ  can  remove.  The  Old  Testament  does  not 
come  to  any  man  without  the  New;  no  man  knows  Moses, 
who  may  not,  by  means  of  Moses,  know  Christ ;  neither 
does  John  the  Baptist,  between  the  Old  and  New,  appear 
anywhere,  crying  Make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord,  but 
the  Lord  himself  is  close  at  hand.  John  may  say  to-day, 
There  standeth  one  among  you,  whom  ye  know  not ;  but  if 
any  soul  will  listen  attentively,  seriously,  humbly,  to  Moses 
and  John,  the  next  day  John  will  be  able  to  point  out  Jesus, 
saying,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  World.  While  in  the  maze  and  horror  of  convic- 
tion of  sin  under  Moses  and  John,  oftentimes  all  that 
the  soul  knows  of  Christ  is  that  voice  of  John,  There 


64  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

standeth  one  among  you  whom  ye  know  not ;  and  perhaps 
the  soul  wonders,  Who  can  it  be  ?  Where  is  he  ?  Oh, 
that  I  might  see  him,  might  find  him,  might  know  him ! 
When  the  soul  has  been  long  enough  in  that  maze  and 
horror  of  sin  and  desolation,  under  the  law  and  rod  of 
Moses  the  Schoolmaster,  and  John  the  Usher,  to  be  beaten 
down  and  humbled,  groaning  beneath  the  burden  of  sin, 
then  comes  that  animating  sweet  voice,  and  a  bright  form 
rises  on  the  soul  with  it,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  The  sin  of  the  world  ? 
says  the  soul,  then  my  sin.  And  coming  nearer  to  the 
gracious  being  whom  Moses  and  John  point  out,  another 
voice,  sweeter  still,  speaks  to  the  burdened  soul,  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest !  That  is  the  completion  of  mercy,  the  ful- 
filment of  grace.  That  voice,  truly  heard  by  the  soul 
chastised  and  beaten  down  by  Moses,  and  instructed  of 
him  and  John,  finishes  the  victory,  and  the  soul  is  at  the 
feet  of  Christ,  its  blindness  removed,  its  darkness  and  its 
burden  gone  ;  the  sinner  sits  there  and  weeps  for  joy, 
clothed  and  in  his  right  mind. 

"  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 
When  Christ  is  lifted  up,  that  is  the  end.  And  Christ's  is 
the  conquering  voice.  Moses  and  John  can  point  the 
way,  and  say  to  the  soul,  go  !  Christ  only  can  say,  come ! 
Moses  can  lift  up  the  brazen  serpent,  and  say,  Look,  and 
live!  And  John,  seeing  Jesus,  can  say,  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God  !  But  Christ  only  can  say,  Come  unto  me !  Moses 
and  John  can  say,  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it!  Christ 
only  can  say,  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life.  Moses 
and  John  can  cry,  The  wrath  to  come!  The  wrath  to 
come  !  Flee  from  the  wrath  to  come !  Christ  only  can 
say,  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved !  I  will  give  you  rest. 
Moses  and  John  can  lay  the  burden  on  the  soul,  Christ 
only  can  remove  it. 

God's  light,  out  of  Christ,  falling  into  the  mind  and  con- 
science, discloses  sin  ;  and  even  by  the  Cross,  if  Christ  be  not 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  65 

received  into  the  heart,  it  discloses  nothing  but  sin.  Unto 
them  that  are  defiled  and  unbelieving  is  nothing  pure  ;  but 
even  their  mind  and  conscience  are  defiled.  The  light 
shining  thus  alone,  is  like  light  in  a  dark  room  or  dungeon, 
disclosing  all  the  rats  and  impurities.  But  Christ  in  the 
mind  and  conscience,  when  God  has  shined  into  the  heart, 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  purity  and  peace,  is  forgiveness 
and  justification,  is  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification, 
and  redemption.  All  this  he  is  made  unto  us  of  God ;  of 
whom  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  according  as  it  is 
written,  He  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord.  The 
light  upon  the  mind  and  conscience  condemned  by  the 
law,  and  shut  up  under  it,  is  to  turn  it  to  the  promise  by 
faith,  and  to  him  who  is  the  object  of  faith  and  the  source 
of  forgiveness,  Jesus  Christ.  That  is  Moses,  dealing  with 
the  soul  through  the  conscience,  showing  the  curse,  and 
crying,  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all 
things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them.  Not 
against  the  promises  of  God,  but  to  make  the  soul  grasp  at 
the  promise  and  cling  to  it  and  come  to  Christ  by  it.  And 
then  the  law-work  and  the  curse-work  is  done,  Christ 
having  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made 
a  curse  for  us,  so  that  we  might  receive  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit  through  faith.  And  thus  to  as  many  as  receive  that 
promise,  and  by  it  receive  him,  from  whom  it  comes,  and 
to  whom  it  points,  to  them  he  gives  the  right,  the  power, 
the  privilege,  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them 
who  believe  in  his  name.  And  thus  the  great  work  of 
Moses  and  of  John  is  finished,  and  the  soul  that  was  under 
the  rod,  the  burden,  the  condemnation,  and  the  bondage,  at 
school  to  an  inexorable  master,  becomes  the  child,  the  heir, 
prepared  for  the  inheritance,  the  redeemed  and  regene- 
rated freeman  in  Christ  Jesus.  For  the  law  was  our 
schoolmaster,  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  that  we  might  be 
justified  by  faith.  But  after  that  faith  is  come,  we  are  no 
longer  under  a  schoolmaster.  For  ye  are  all  the  children 
of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  because  ye  are  sons, 


66  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts, 
crying  Abba,  Father.  And  thou  art  no  more  a  servant, 
but  a  son  ;  and  if  a  Son,  then  an  heir  of  God  through  Christ. 

Now  what  inexpressible  loveliness  of  wisdom  and  glory 
is  in  this  system !  Would  to  God  that  every  soul  might 
follow  this  experience,  might  thus  trace  the  blessed  way 
from  Moses  to  Christ ;  blessed,  because  it  makes  the  soul 
hate  sin,  and  because  it  ends  in  Christ ;  blessed,  though 
ever  so  painful.  And  there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why 
every  soul  should  not  have  this  experience  of  Sons,  this 
experience  of  Moses'  schoolmastership  leading  to  Christ ; 
for  it  is  perfectly  free  to  all,  and  Moses  takes  all  in  hand, 
nor  is  there  any  way  or  possibility  of  getting  rid  of  Moses 
and  his  bondage,  but  by  finding  Christ  and  his  love.  And 
as  Moses  stands  over  the  soul  and  behind  it,  beating  it, 
Christ  stands  before  the  soul  inviting  it,  and  crying,  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  come,  and  I  will  give  him  rest.  So  it 
is  your  own  fault,  if  you  do  not  come ;  it  is  neither  Moses' 
fault,  nor  Christ's  fault,  but  your  own,  and  your  own  only. 

Nevertheless,  of  all  that  hear  the  gospel,  the  vast  multi- 
tude stay  away.  Some  stay  in  utter  insensibility,  even 
under  all  the  wrath  and  threatenings  of  Moses,  and  all  the 
tenderness  and  love  of  Christ.  And  others  stay  in  bare 
conviction,  and  though  convinced  of  sin  in  some  degree,  yet 
do  not  come  to  Christ.  But  all  conviction  is  vain,  unless 
it  be  followed  up  by  the  gospel,  by  repentance,  and  faith, 
and  prayer,  and  Christ  taking  away  sin.  Some  persons 
never  go  further  than  conviction,  and  yet  often  have 
enough  of  that  to  lead  them  to  repentance,  if  they  would 
go  to  Christ,  and  see  aright  the  gospel ;  enough  they  have 
of  Moses  in  their  mind  and  conscience,  to  know  their  need 
of  Christ  and  the  way  to  him.  But  though  they  see  and 
know  that  they  are  sinners,  they  take  not  the  means  to 
have  their  sins  removed,  and  so  the  convictions,  which  are 
now  and  then  renewed,  subside  again,  and  leave  them  as 
bad  as  before,  and  perhaps  worse.  They  are  like  our 
street  contractors  or  laborers,  who  from  time  to  time 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  67 

sweep  up  the  mud  in  noticeable  piles,  but  send  no  carts  to 
convey  it  away,  and  in  a  week's  time  it  is  all  again  spread 
over  the  streets  as  before  with  additions.  So  it  is  with 
the  mire  of  sin  in  men's  souls,  if,  on  conviction  of  sin,  they 
do  not  apply  to  Christ  for  its  removal. 

Moses  can  do  much  with  the  mind  and  conscience,  but 
Christ  only  can  cleanse  the  heart,  can  put  the  truth  into 
the  heart,  grace  and  truth.  Moses  can  make  the  truth 
work  for  our  perdition,  but  Christ  only  can  make  it  work 
our  life,  can  make  it  the  light  of  life.  The  truth  often 
temporarily  makes  a  great  impression  on  the  mind  and 
conscience,  but  not  being  lodged  in  the  heart,  the  fowls  of 
the  air  come  and  devour  it  up.  They  can  easily  catch  it 
away  before  it  is  rooted.  The  sermon  which  on  Sabbath 
evening  seemed  all  light  and  power  to  an  awakened  mind 
and  conscience,  not  being  carried  to  God  for  his  blessing, 
not  being  carried  to  Christ,  for  him  to  give  it  life  in  the 
heart,  Monday  morning's  brightness  and  gaiety  and  worldly 
activity  carry  it  all  away.  Then  the  mind  wonders  where 
those  impressions  have  gone.  They  have  gone  where  the 
heart  has  gone,  and  because  the  heart  has  gone,  away  from 
God.  The  cares  of  life,  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  and  the 
lusts  of  other  things,  have  choked  the  word,  and  the  fowls 
in  Wall  street,  in  Pearl  street,  in  Vanity  Fair,  have  carried 
it  off. 

The  mind,  the  conscience,  the  heart,  and  the  life  are  all 
concerned  together  in  life-truth.  If  they  are  separated 
from  one  another,  if  the  connexion  between  them  is 
broken  off,  the  truth  perishes.  A  steamer  may  have  fuel, 
and  water,  and  a  boiler,  and  fire,  and  the  steam  may  be 
got  up ;  but  if  it  do  not  pass  into  the  great  cylinder,  and 
set  the  beating  heart  in  motion,  it  is  all  a  waste.  Or  if 
it  do  not  pass  from  the  beating  heart  to  the  wheels,  to  set 
them  in  motion,  it  is  all  a  waste.  And  the  vessel  may  be 
wrecked,  whether  at  sea  or  near  the  coast,  by  a  separation, 
disconnexion,  break,  or  disarrangement,  between  any  of 
these  parts  of  the  machinery. 


68  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Just  so  it  is  with  truth  in  the  soul.  If  it  stays  merely 
in  the  mind  and  conscience,  and  goes  not  by  Divine  grace 
into  the  heart,  it  will  just  merely  wreck  the  mind  and 
conscience,  instead  of  keeping  it  ;  it  will  explode,  if  it 
becomes  active,  and  yet  is  not  admitted  into  the  heart. 
Or  again,  if  it  goes  not  from  the  heart  into  the  life,  it  will 
but  condemn  and  harden  and  wreck  the  heart,  because  it 
is  the  truth  held  in  unrighteousness,  a  thing  against  which 
God's  seal  of  reprobation  is  most  fearfully  set.  For  the 
wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodli- 
ness and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold  the  truth  in 
unrighteousness.  Because,  that  which  may  be  known  of 
God  is  manifest  in  them,  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto 
them,  and  therefore  they  are  without  excuse.  Indeed,  all 
truth,  that  is  not  obeyed  in  the  life,  by  living  in  the  affec- 
tions, condemns  the  soul,  and  in  the  end,  if  the  discon- 
nexion be  continued,  destroys  it.  Christ,  therefore,  must 
rule  in  the  affections.  And  for  this,  a  mighty  and  gradual 
discipline  is  requisite,  a  work  which  Christ  only,  by 
grace,  by  providence,  by  truth,  can  work. 

Sometimes  God  takes  one  method,  sometimes  another, 
and  sometimes  all  methods  fail,  and  the  foolish,  careless, 
guilty  sinner,  regardless  of  all  the  riches  of  God's  good- 
ness, forbearance,  and  long-suffering,  leading  him  to 
repentance,  goes  on  after  his  hardness  and  impenitent 
heart,  treasuring  up  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath,  and 
revelation  of  God's  righteous  judgment.  "  He  goes  on  after 
his  hardness  and  impenitent  heart ;"  it  is  a  striking  ex- 
pression ;  he  follows  the  impulses  of  his  hardness  and 
impenitent  heart,  instead  of  the  leadings  of  Christ ;  he 
pursues  after  his  blind  heart,  instead  of  pursuing  after 
God.  Some  souls  bend  and  break,  submissive  and 
"penitent,  under  a  discipline  which  other  souls  success- 
fully resist.  One  soul  becomes  a  broken  bruised  reed 
under  the  blows  of  Moses,  and  then  Christ  instantly  takes 
the  loving,  tender  charge  of  that  soul,  instead  of  Moses. 
Another  soul  stands  up  firm  and  erect,  stubborn,  like  an 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  69 

upright,  stout  reed,  cased  in  flint,  and  growing  every  day 
harder  and  drier.  The  blows  of  Moses  only  harden  it 
more  and  more,  and  the  tenderness  of  Christ,  and  the  dews 
of  God's  grace,  falling  about  the  roots,  only  seem  to  be 
turned  by  it  into  tough  fibre  and  silex. 

We  have  known  of  a  blacksmith,  notorious  for  his 
recklessness  and  unbelief  on  the  subject  of  religion,  with 
a  heart  as  hard  as  his  own  anvil.  There  was  a  revival  by 
God's  grace  in  the  village,  and  a  second  blacksmith  in  the 
same  place,  who  had  been  a  hardened  sinner,  was  con- 
verted. One  of  this  man's  customers,  who  did  not  at  all 
relish  this  change,  came  shortly  after  to  the  first  black- 
smith, to  have  a  piece  of  work  done  by  him.  Somewhat 
surprised  at  this  application,  the  blacksmith  said,  "  How 
is  this,  friend  John  ?  I  thought  you  got  all  your  work  done 
at  neighbor  Charles's."  "  Ah,  but  he's  too  good  now ;  he 
isn't  bad  enough  for  me ;  your  shop  is  the  only  tolerable 
one  now."  The  thing  struck  the  man  to  the  heart.  It 
was  an  unexpected,  unintended  blow  of  Moses.  He  went 
home,  cut  through  and  through  to  think  that  he  should  be 
considered  the  worst  man  in  the  village,  and  be  patronized 
by  bad  men  solely  on  that  account.  He  could  not  sleep 
for  thinking  of  it,  and  was  filled  with  anxiety  on  account 
of  his  sins.  He  went  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  and  to 
prayer.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  went  into  his  soul,  and 
he  was  brought  to  repentance. 

So  God  works.  But  some  there  are,  who  complain  of 
their  own  insensibility,  and  wonder  at  it,  and  think  they 
would  give  much  to  have  it  removed,  but  still,  for  that 
operation  they  do  not  put  their  hearts  at  the  disposal  of 
Christ,  or  into  his  hands  for  healing.  They  are  like  blind 
men  sitting  by  the  way-side,  and  making  a  great  outcry 
over  their  misfortune,  but  when  the  Physician  comes  that 
way  and  calls  them,  they  will  not  stir  one  step  on  their 
own  part  towards  him.  What  good  would  the  most  per- 
fect dispensary  in  the  world,  and  the  most  skilful  oculists 
in  the  world,  waiting  in  it.  do  for  the  blind  in  a  great  city,  if, 


70  GRACE     AND    TRUTH, 

being  invited  to  come  and  have  their  blindness  removed, 
they  would  not  come,  but  would  stay  away  from  fear  of 
the  operation,  or  from  sheer  distrust  and  indolence  ? 

But  in  the  name  of  all  righteousness,  mercy,  and  truth, 
is  not  God  himself  doing  everything  lor  men,  to  have  this 
insensibility  taken  away  ?  Does  he  not  thunder  with  his 
law,  and  tenderly  persuade  them  with  his  gospel,  and  still 
will  they  be  like  deaf  adders,  who  will  not  hear  the  voice 
of  the  charmer,  charming  never  so  wisely — deaf  to  the 
sound  both  of  the  wail  of  hell's  torments,  and  the  melody 
of  heaven's  music  ?  But  if  these  things  do  not  dispel 
our  insensibility,  if  all  the  array  of  God's  providences, 
and  all  the  terrors  of  the  law,  and  the  majesty  and  mercy 
of  the  Cross  of  Christ  fail  to  move  us,  what  can  do  it  ? 
Would  we  have  God  take  his  rod  and  shatter  us  in 
pieces,  or  would  we  have  him  put  a  worm  in  our  gourds, 
and  make  friends  and  comforts  and  health  wither  and  die 
away  from  us,  or  would  we  have  him,  when  truth  and 
love  will  not  prevail,  dip  us,  as  it  were,  in  the  burning 
lake,  and  make  us  feel  its  torments  ?  Yet  all  the  disci- 
pline of  God  in  the  world,  the  moment  it  is  taken  off, 
would  fail  to  affect  us  lastingly,  unless  by  the  light  of 
God's  truth,  under  the  power  of  his  grace,  we  come  to 
Christ.  All  God's  discipline  with  us  must  come  to  this, 
or  come  to  naught. 

And  the  discipline  of  light  itself,  in  the  cross  of  Christ, 
is  admirably  adapted  to  produce  this  result.  The  same 
light  that  shows  us  our  guilt,  is  a  light  that  shows  us  our 
Saviour.  It  is  not  God  as  a  holy  God  merely,  that  shines 
upon  our  hearts,  our  life,  our  being,  our  ways.  That 
might  be  enough  to  show  us  our  guilt,  but  it  would  simply 
strike  us  down  in  despair  ;  for  seeing  how  infinitely  holy 
God  is,  the  clear  sight  of  God  would  be  only  a  sense  of  the 
infinite  distance  between  God  and  the  soul,  and  of  the 
impossibility  of  ever  passing  that  gulf  of  guilt,  and  get- 
ting back  to  God.  But  God  shines  in  Christ.  And  the 
peculiarity  of  this  light  is,  that  the  very  arrangement  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  71 

nature  of  it,  by  which  mercy  is  brought-  to  view,  offered 
and  shown  to  be  possible,  is  an  arrangement  that  increases 
the  demonstration  of  man's  guilt,  shows  it  forth  more 
clearly,  and  in  a  way  infinitely  convincing  and  affecting. 
The  light  that  shows  us  a  Saviour  establishes  beyond  all 
contradiction  the  fact  of  our  guilt  and  ruin,  and  the  great- 
ness of  it.  And  the  light  that  shows  the  guilt  shows  the 
Saviour.  Moreover,  it  is  not  God's  Word  barely  and 
alone,  to  which  he  shuts  us  up  for  evidence  ;  he  does  not 
leave  us  to  that,  without  other  helps  to  our  faith.  And 
this  is  an  extraordinary  thing  in  God's  mercy,  a  wonder- 
ful view  of  it,  that  God  bridges  over  for  us  the  gulf  of  our 
own  insensibility  and  unbelief  in  regard  to  Christ,  by 
giving  us  an  experience  produced  by  his  Word,  even 
before  we  have  come  to  Christ.  This  experience  growing 
out  of  his  Word,  though  an  experience  of  sin,  is  neverthe- 
less a  plank  thrown  across  the  sheer  gulf  that  in  our 
insensibility  and  darkness  separates  between  us  and  God. 
It  is  the  effect  of  God's  light  in  our  own  souls,  upon  our 
own  sins.  That  first  effect  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
is  to  disclose  what  is  \vithin  us,  what  we  ourselves  are,  in 
contrast  with  what  God  is.  That  being  done,  and  then 
Christ  being  revealed,  God  in  Christ,  as  a  forgiving  God 
and  Saviour,  faith  in  Christ  springs  out  of  experience  in 
ourselves,  and  out  of  our  own  necessity  and  despair. 
Faith  in  Christ  is  the  flame  produced  by  the  meeting  of 
the  Word  of  God  and  our  experience,  the  promises  of 
God  and  our  experience.  Our  experience  is  first  produced 
by  God's  light,  God's  condemning  Word,  God's  holy  law, 
God's  holy  self,  in  contrast  and  conflict  with  the  soul. 
Then  faith  in  Christ  springs  up  out  of  the  meeting  of  God's 
promising  Word  with  that  experience  ;  God's  promises  and 
our  sins  are  the  fuel.  Out  of  that  heap  of  fuel,  kindled  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  blazes  up  the  flame  of  faith  in  Christ.  It 
is  a  wonderful  arrangement  of  God's  mercy.  For,  let  it 
be  noted,  if  God  left  us  to  ourselves  as  to  the  matter  of 
faith  in  Christ,  if  he  came  requiring  faith  in  Christ,  before 


72  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

any  enlightening  or  experience  vouchsafed  beforehand  in 
regard  to  our  guilt,  his  Word  might  preach  Christ  so  for 
ages,  and  there  never  would  be  faith  either  in  it  or  in  him. 
That  deep,  impassable  gulf  between  God  and  the  soul 
would  remain  impassable  for  ever,  ancP  none  would  attempt 
to  cross  it.  God  crosses  it  in  our  experience,  before  we 
would  ever  attempt  to  cross  it,  or  even  be  aware  of  its 
existence.  God  produces  our  experience,  and  lays  it 
down  as  that  bridge  for  unbelief  and  insensibility  itself  to 
walk  upon,  that  experience  of  guilt,  and  so  of  the  need  of 
Christ  as  a  Saviour,  and  of  God's  forgiveness  in  him,  out 
of  which,  or  upon  which,  the  soul  comes  in  faith  to  Christ. 

But  that  experience  itself,  we  see,  would  be  nothing 
without  God's  promises  ;  that  is,  would  be  nothing  to  pro- 
duce faith,  nothing  but  to  produce  despair,  nothing  but  to 
bring  the  soul  to  the  verge  of  that  horrible  gulf,  make  it 
look  down  into  it,  and  then  plunge  it  headlong  in  despair 
for  ever.  So  that  God's  promises  in  Christ  are  the  piles 
driven  down  into  that  gulf,  the  piers,  deeper  and  stronger 
than  hell  itself,  on  which  that  experience  of  hell  may  be 
bottomed,  may  be  flung  as  a  bridge  for  the  passage  of  the 
soul  in  faith  towards  a  Saviour.  There  it  rests,  upheld  by 
those  foundations.  And  the  foundations  which  as  but- 
tresses and  piers  sink  below,  and  sustain  the  shock  of  all 
the  drift  of  chaos  and  of  hell  against  them,  rise  also  as  a 
fence  or  railing  above,  to  keep  the  trembling,  fearful  soul, 
walking  thus  upon  its  own  terrible  experience  towards 
Christ,  from  falling  over,  from  plunging  into  the  bosom  of 
despair  instead  of  Christ.  This  is  God's  mercy,  this  is 
God's  infinitely  wise  and  gracious  arrangement.  Out  of 
death  he  brings  forth  life.  Out  of  the  materials  of  sin 
and  hell  and  despair,  he  brings  a  passage  to  holiness  and 
salvation  and  joy  and  life  eternal  in  the  Saviour.  Out  of 
condemnation  in  guilt  he  brings  pardon,  and  out  of  the 
grave,  victory. 

Now  God  having  demonstrated  this  to  us  in  many  forms, 
might  have  left  us  to  our  own  experience  and  his  pro- 


CHRIST    IW    THE    AFFECTIONS.  73 

mises ;  and  no  man  could  have  imagined  what  more  we 
could  ask  of  him  than  that ;  and  yet  God  himself  has  gone 
still  further.  For  he  has,  as  it  were,  thrown  down  this 
bridge  before  our  own  eyes,  and  shown  us  other  sinners 
walking  safely  on  it.  There  it  is  in  the  32d  Psalm,  and 
David  going  over  it.  And  what  is  to  be  thought  of  the 
prayer,  "  For  thy  name's  sake  pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it 
is  great  ?"  Would  it  not  be  the  strangest  of  all  strange 
prayers  for  a  criminal  to  offer  to  the  government,  a 
criminal  guilty  of  a  monstrous  murder  for  example,  if  Jie 
should  say,  My  murder  is  the  worst  that  was  ever  com- 
mitted since  Cain's  ;  the  most  atrocious,  the  most 
deliberate,  cruel,  cold-blooded,  inexcusable,  and  therefore 
I  beseech  you  for  the  government's  sake  to  pardon  me. 
And  yet  that  is  David's  prayer  to  God,  that  is  the  prayer 
God  teaches  us  to  offer  for  his  mercy :  "  For  thy  name's 
sake  pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great."  And  so  David 
went  over  the  bridge  of  his  own  sins  into  the  heart  of 
God's  mercy.  And  there  it  is  again  in  the  2d  Chronicles 
xxxiii.  12,  13,  and  Manasseh  going  over  it,  that  monstrous 
sinner !  But  God  was  entreated  of  him,  and  heard  his 
supplication.  And  there  it  is  again  in  Luke  xv.,  and  the 
Prodigal  Son  going  over  it  And  there  it  is  again  in  1st 
Timothy  i.  15,  and  Paul  himself  going  over  it,  as  the 
chief  of  sinners,  with  the  same  argument,  "For  thy 
name's  sake  pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great." 

And  here  let  us  stop  one  moment  and  see  the  progress 
of  Paul's  experience.  There  is  a  peculiarly  beautiful  and 
instructive  series  of  climacterics  in  it,  which  has  often  been 
noted.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  59,  he  is  the  least  of  the 
apostles,  and  not  meet  to  be  called  an  apostle,  because  he 
persecuted  the  church  of  God.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord 
64,  after  five  years  more  of  growth  in  grace,  he  is  less  than 
the  least  of  all  saints.  But  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  65, 
and  not  long  before  he  was  to  receive  his  crown  in 
heaven,  he  is  the  chief  of  sinners.  So  a  man,  as  he  goes 
down  in  self  goes  up  in  God,  and  as  he  goes  up  in  God 

4 


74    GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

goes  down  in  self.  He  that  began  his  way  to  Christ  by 
saying,  Lord  have  mercy  upon  me,  for  I  am  a  great  sin- 
ner, sees  more  and  more,  after  he  has  come  to  Christ,  and 
all  his  sins  are  put  behind  him  and  .forgiven,  how  great 
and  aggravated  they  were ;  and  the  more  he  experiences 
of  God's  loving  kindness,  and  the  more  he  grows  in 
grace,  the  more  he  sees  and  feels  his  own  unworthiness. 
His  sins  grow  behind  him,  as  God's  love  grows  before  him  ; 
but  it  is  the  love  that  is  before,  while  the  guilt  is  all  behind, 
and  the  more  he  sees  of  the  love  that  forgives,  the  more, 
in  the  expanding  and  increasing  light  of  that  love,  he  sees 
of  the  greatness  of  the  guilt  that  has  been  forgiven.  So 
love  grows  out  of  sin,  and  sin  seems  larger  by  love,  all  the 
way  through  eternity. 

GRACE  ! — 'tis  a  charming  sound, 

Harmonious  to  the  ear ; 
Heaven  with  the  echo  shall  resound, 

And  all  the  earth  shall  hear. 

GRACE  first  contrived  the  way 

To  save  rebellious  man ; 
And  all  the  steps  that  grace  display, 

Which  drew  the  wondrous  plan. 

GRACE  led  my  roving  feet 

To  tread  the  heavenly  road; 
And  new  supplies  each  hour  I  meet, 

While  pressing  on  to  God. 

GRACE  all  the  work  shall  crown 

Through  everlasting  days, 
It  lays  in  heaven  the  topmost  stone 

And  well  deserves  the  praise. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

God's  method  of  discipline. — Faith  an  element  of  character  for  development 
and  growth. — A  reward  of  Faith  in  the  habit  of  Faith. 

THERE  was  a  Day  of  Discourse  by  our  Blessed  Lord  with 
his  disciples  on  earth,  very  noticeable  for  a  conversation 
on  the  subject  of  faith,  which  has  singularly,  in  some 
points,  escaped  examination.  It  was  the  occasion  in 
Luke's  seventeenth  chapter,  when  the  apostles  came  with 
the  simple,  childlike  prayer,  "Lord,  increase  our  faith/' 
The  prayer  itself  is  simple  and  childlike,  though  it  may 
possibly  be  offered  in  words,  without  the  possession  of 
the  spirit  which  it  indicates.  The  prayer  itself  is  at  the 
bottom  of  the  well-spring  of  our  spiritual  life. 

A  man  already  has  some  faith,  who  truly  feels  his  need 
of  faith,  and  his  dependence  on  Christ  for  it.  So  this 
prayer  offered  by  the  apostles  was  one  of  the  most  satis- 
factory proofs  that  faith  was  in  their  hearts,  and  that  it  was 
a  growing  principle,  however  small  at  first.  We  all  need 
to  come  to  Christ  with  this  prayer,  but  oftentimes  we 
know  not  what  we  are  praying  for,  and  the  apostles  them- 
selves hardly  knew  what  they  were  praying  for,  when  they 
begged  for  an  increase  of  their  faith.  They  were  in 
truth  praying  that  our  Blessed  Lord  would  take  what 
means  he  might  find  necessary  to  produce  a  stronger  faith 
in  their  hearts.  They  thought  they  were  praying  for  a 
direct  communication  from  his  Spirit,  a  direct  and  posi- 
tive and  immediate  exercise  of  his  power  in  their  souls, 
without  any  waiting,  or  working,  or  difficulty  on  their 


76  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

part.  But  they  were  very  greatly  mistaken  ;  and  as  he 
saw  in  them  a  true  sincerity  in  that  request,  although 
mingled  with  much  error,  he  answered  their  prayer  in  his 
own  way  and  time,  not  theirs ;  according  to  his  own  wis- 
dom and  grace,  not  their  short-sightedness. 

They  had  formed  the  habit  of  walking  by  sight,  not 
faith,  and  they  were  carrying  that  habit  even  into  spiritual 
things.  They  wished  all  their  acquisitions  to  be  present 
ones,  and  they  would  have  present  proof  that  their  prayers 
were  answered.  They  had  no  idea  upon  what  a  sea  of 
trying  discipline  their  supplications  would  launch  them 
forth.  The  true  increase  of  their  faith  comprised  an 
amount  of  trial  from  which  they  would  have  shrunk  back, 
could  they  have  foreseen  it.  And  when  it  came,  they  saw 
not  then  its  meaning,  they  thought  it  was  the  wrong  way. 
The  increase  of  faith  comprises  methods  of  discipline, 
both  inward  and  external,  which  to  sight  seem  very  mys- 
terious. At  the  very  time  when  God  is  administering  the 
very  remedies  that  are  to  work  in  us  a  greater  faith,  when 
Christ,  our  great  Physician,  is  taking  our  case  in  hand, 
and  putting  us  under  the  necessary  regimen,  it  may  seem 
to  us  as  if  our  prayers  were  neither  heard  nor  answered. 
Prayer,  sometimes,  seems  to  bring  nothing  but  difficulty, 
seems  to  do  nothing  but  stir  up  our  ill  humors,  seems  to 
reveal  nothing  but  our  guilt  and  misery.  Then  we  think 
God  has  deserted  us,  or  we  have  never  known  the  way  of 
his  mercy,  or  have  no  right  to  hope  in  it,  and  no  reason 
for  encouragement.  We  are  almost  ready  to  turn  back, 
perhaps,  because  of  the  very  discipline  by  which  God 
would  carry  us  forward.  We  know  not  God's  methods, 
and  can  see  but  little  way  before  us.  Sometimes  the 
direction  of  those  methods  seems  to  sight  directly  con- 
trary to  the  way  of  our  progress.  But  in  spiritual  things 
we  often  have  to  go  down  in  order  to  go  up,  just  as  in  climb- 
ing a  high  mountain  you  often  have  to  descend  in  one 
place  in  order  to  ascend  in  another.  So  it  is  in  God's 
discipline.  And  our  habit  of  judging  by  sight,  and  of  ask- 


CHRIST    IN     THE    AFFECTIONS.  77 

ing  for  sight,  or  rather  of  expecting  sight  in  spiritual  things,, 
when  we  have  been  asking  for  faith,  is  very  preposterous. 
So  is  the  habit  of  being  discouraged  by  present  diffi- 
culties, inward  or  external,  instead  of  looking  to  God, 
trusting  all  with  Christ,  and  pressing  onwards. 

If  a  traveller  were  passing  through  a  vast  reach  of 
country  to  gain  a  destined  point,  to  arrive  at  some  great 
city,  where  his  business  is  to  be  accomplished,  what  would 
be  thought  of  his  conduct,  if,  happening  upon  a  barren 
tract  of  landscape,  a  desert,  or  a  rocky  ridge  of  mountains, 
he  should  say,  I  will  give  up  my  journey  for  the  present, 
till  the  country  becomes  more  favorable  ;  or  if  he  should 
conclude  and  say,  This  cannot  be  the  right  rpad  to  the 
city,  it  is  not  possible  that  the  path  can  lead  through  this 
desert,  or  over  this  mountain ;  or  if  he  should  argue  and 
say,  If  this  were  the  right  path,  it  would  certainly  lead 
through  a  more  interesting  region,  and  I  should  find  the 
landscape  more  delightful.  He  would  be  thought  to  have 
taken  leave  of  his  senses,  if  he  should  stop  travelling  till 
the  road  became  more  interesting.  But  the  Christian 
traveller  is  still  more  inconsiderate  and  foolish,  who  says 
within  himself,  every  time  that  the  spiritual  landscape 
wears  to  him  an  uninteresting  aspect,  every  time  that 
prayer  becomes  a  burden,  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible  a 
leaden  duty  that  has  lost  its  charm,  every  time  that  his 
soul  melteth  for  heaviness,  and  cleaveth  unto  the  dust,  or 
wandereth  in  darkness,  or  in  stormy  weather,  or  over 
craggy  mountains :  who  says  within  himself,  I  cannot  be 
in  the  right  way,  if  I  were,  it  would  be  more  interesting ; 
this  cannot  be  the  way  to  the  city ;  there  must  be  some 
other  way ;  this  cannot  be  God's  way.  If  a  soul  should 
pause  and .  argue  in  this  way,  what  would  become  of 
it  ?  But  no  !  the  soul  is  bound  to  make  progress  over 
rough  places  as  well  as  smooth  ones,  and  through  unin- 
teresting landscapes,  and  in  dark  and  stormy  weather. 
It  is  God's  way,  though  these  feelings  of  despondency, 
or  impatience,  or  discouragement,  or  unbelief,  are  not 


78  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

God's  feelings.  The  way  of  duty  is  the  way  of  God's 
appointment ;  but  the  feelings  that  throw  their  own  color- 
ing over  it  are  the  feelings  of  an  imperfect  and  distrustful 
or  discontented  human  heart ;  the  Christian  Pilgrim  is  not 
to  give  way  to  them,  but  to  resist  them  ;  and  for  him  the 
discipline  of  faith  is  to  go  forward,  notwithstanding  those 
feelings,  looking  to  the  end. 

"  Ye  have  need  of  patience  that  after  ye  have  done  the 
will  of  God,  ye  might  receive  the  promise."  The  way 
itself  may  in  reality  be  a  wilderness  ;  and  there  have 
been  memorable  cases,  in  which,  the  soul  of  the  pilgrims 
being  much  discouraged  because  of  the  way,  they  have 
turned  aside  to  seek  a  better  way.  But  the  way  that  for 
the  present  seems  easier,  leads  in  the  end  to  a  place  that 
is  infinitely  worse  than  all  the  evils  in  the  way  through 
the  wilderness.  The  Castle  of  Despair  receives  the  pil- 
grims at  the  end  of  the  wrong  way,  the  way  that  seemed 
easier  ;  and  the  evil  experience  in  that  Castle  is  incom- 
parably worse  to  bear,  than  all  the  discouragements  which 
made  the  soul  of  the  pilgrim  to  faint  within  him  in  the 
right  way.  The  discouragements  themselves  afford  a  dis- 
cipline to  faith.  How,  indeed,  should  faith  be  disciplined, 
if  there  were  not  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  discourage- 
ments to  be  struggled  with  ?  The  enjoyment  of  serene 
weather,  perpetual  sunshine,  and  a  flowery  path,  may  be  a 
discipline  for  gratitude,  but  leaves  no  opportunity  for  the 
trial  of  faith. 

Faith  itself,  the  habit  of  faith,  gained  by  doing  duty,  is 
one  of  the  rewards  of  faith.  To  him  that  hath,  and  that 
putteth  his  money  in  active  use  for  his  Master,  shall  be 
given  the  more  ;  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken 
away  even  that  which  he  seemeth  to  have.  From  the 
discourse  of  Christ  following  the  prayer  of  the  apostles, 
it  would  seem  probable  that  they  had  been  looking  for  the 
rewards  of  faith  beforehand.  It  may  have  been  a  miracu- 
lous faith,  which  they  desired  for  present  exercise,  for 
present  power,  in  Christ's  service.  But  our  Blessed  Lord 


CHRIST     IN    THE    AFFECTIONS. 


79 


told  them  that  they  could  not  receive  so  great  a  gift, 
except  through  and  after  a  course  of  faithful  obedience. 
They  must  do  their  work  of  faith  for  their  Lord  and 
Master,  and  then  they  should  eai  and  drink.  Then  this 
faith  should  be  completed,  and  in  its  very  completion  they 
should  have  their  reward.  But  they  could  not  claim  it 
as  a  debt,  and  they  must  not  indulge  beforehand  in  any 
thought  that  their  works  of  service,  or  the  faith  where- 
with already  they  wrought  them,  were,  or  could  be,  works 
of  merit,  on  the  ground  of  which  they  could  claim  accept- 
ance, or  step  into  office  in  Christ's  kingdom.  For  after 
they  had  done  all  they  could  do,  they  could  not  have  done 
anything  which  they  were  not  bound  to  do ;  anything,  the 
neglect  of  which,  or  the  refusal  of  which,  would  not  have 
been  a  sin.  Does  a  parent  lay  claim  to  great  merit, 
because  he  provides  for  his  children  food  which  is  not 
injurious,  or  because  he  takes  the  proper  steps  to  have  his 
children  taught  the  rudiments  of  common  knowledge, 
necessary  for  their  existence  ?  Does  a  servant  deem  that 
he  lays  his  master  under  obligations,  because  he  does  not 
neglect  to  perform  the  daily,  common  duties  of  his  sta- 
tion ?  Does  he  claim,  when  he  has  spread  the  table  for 
his  master,  and  waits  upon  him  while  he  is  at  meat,  to 
have  done  a  service  of  great  merit,  on  the  ground  of 
which  he  may  claim  an  extraordinary  reward  ?  When  he 
goes  upon  a  common  errand,  which  not  to  do  would  be 
rebellion  and  disobedience,  and  unfitness  for  his  place, 
does  he  think  to  have  brought  his  master  under  obligations 
for  a  service  of  profit  to  him,  of  which  he  can  boast,  as  if  it 
were  something  above  a  mere  simple,  unavoidable  duty, 
something  supererogatory  ?  I  trow  not. 

Such  was  the  instruction  of  our  Blessed  Lord  to  his 
disciples.  They  were  to  remember  that  faith  itself  was 
of  gradual  growth.  If  they  had  the  seeds  of  it,  the  begin- 
nings of  it,  the  true  principles  of  faith,  and  would  go 
forward  in  a  course  of  simple  obedience  for  the  service, 
the  honor,  the  glory  of  their  Master,  their  faith  would 


80  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

grow  into  great  power  and  glory,  and  in  that  very  increase 
would  bring  both  its  fruits  and  its  rewards.  But  they 
must  not  seek  for  it  as  a  selfish  thing,  or  as  a  grace  of 
power  for  self-advancement,  or  mere  personal  comfort  and 
enjoyment,  but  as  a  grace  to  be  used  for  Christ,  and  a 
discipline  in  his  service.  Neither  must  they  seek  for  it 
under  the  imagination  that  by  it  they  could  claim  heaven 
on  the  ground  of  merit,  or  a  place  in  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  on  the  ground  of  great  attainments  or  great 
services;  for  that  was  not  the  way  in  which  the  soul 
could  be  justified.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  use 
faith  as  a  kind  of  justifying  works  ;  a  mistake  into  which 
the  apostles  themselves  were  then  in  danger  of  falling. 
Lord,  I  have  s-o  much  faith,  they  \vould,  under  the  influence 
of  this  mistake,  have  been  thinking  within  themselves ; 
and  I  claim  to  bo  made  prime  minister,  or  grand  council'  ;r, 
or  first  regent,  in  thy  kingdom.  Or  under  the  same  mis- 
take, and  the  same  mixture  of  worldly  misapprehension, 
a  mother  might  have  come  and  said,  Lord,  my  sons  have 
so  much  faith,  my  two  sons  ;  grant  that  they  may  sit.  the 
one  on  thy  right  hand,  the  other  on  the  left,  in  thy  king- 
dom. But  no !  they  knew  not  what  they  asked.  And  in 
asking  for  an  increase  of  faith,  if  they  did  it  at  all  under 
such  darkness,  such  misapprehension,  and  it  is  very  likely 
they  did,  they  needed  great  reproof,  correction,  and  in- 
struction in  righteousness.  They  needed  just  such  an 
answer  as  the  Saviour  made,  appealing  to  their  own  com- 
mon sense,  in  regard  to  the  business  of  a  servant,  and  the 
work  of  faith  as  a  service. 

They  had  not  yet  learned  that  the  grace  of  faith  was  a 
gradual  discipline,  not  a  mere  sudden,  supernatural,  or 
miraculous  endowment.  It  was  the  gift  of  God,  but  a  gift 
in  his  own  way,  not  theirs.  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  so  is  faith,  which  individually  in  men  is  the  essence  of 
that  kingdom,  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground, 
and  should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed 
should  spring  and  grow  up,  he  knoweth  not  how.  For  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS. 


81 


earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself,  first  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  And  again,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  faith,  the  essence  of  that  kingdom, 
is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  a  man  took  and 
sowed  in  his  field  ;  which,  indeed,  is  the  least  of  all  seeds  ; 
but  when  it  is  grown,  it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and 
becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and 
lodge  in  the  branches  thereof.  Now  then,  if  ye  have  faith 
as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  if  ye  have  the  true  germ  of  this 
grace,  this  grov^ing  germ,  and  will  go  forward  in  its 
development,  by  a  course  of  persevering,  self-forgetting 
obedience  to  God,  obedience  to  your  Divine  Master  for  his 
glory,  out  of  love  to  him,  and  not  regard  to  yourselves,  this 
seed  and  principle  of  faith  shall  spring  and  grow,  ye  know 
not  how ;  and  it  shall  become  a  great  tree,  that  no  tempest 
can  uproot  or  shake. 

Ye  come  to  me,  my  disciples,  as  for  a  supernatural, 
miraculous  endowment ;  but  I  tell  you  that  faith  is  a  dis- 
cipline of  your  souls  ;  it  is  a  life,  not  a  miracle ;  and  it 
springs  up,  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full 
corn  in  the  ear.  Ye  come  to  me  for  a  miracle  ;  I  tell  you 
it  depends  also  upon  yourselves  ;  upon  your  own  humility, 
and  persevering,  simple-hearted,  single-hearted  obedience ; 
it  depends  upon  your  own  life  for  your  Lord  and  Master. 
I  cannot _  give  you  this  faith  before  you  have  learned  this 
discipline,  and  formed  this  habit  of  humble  service,  in 
dependence  upon  me.  It  would  be  like  giving  a  servant 
his  reward,  before  he  has  performed  the  duties  of  his 
station.  It  would  be  like  a  master  telling  his  servant  to 
take  his  place  at  the  table,  and  to  eat  and  drink,  before  the 
master  himself  has  been  served,  or  his  wishes  and  com- 
mands attended  to.  Your  faith  will  grow  by  the  patient 
exercise  of  that  which  ye  already  have.  To  him  that  hath 
shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundantly.  But  it 
is  a  habit,  a  life,  a  discipline  of  the  soul,  and  cannot  be  a 
mere  miraculous  endowment.  If  ye  cultivate  its  begin- 
nings, and  thus  by  grace  make  the  germ  and  the  gift  of 

4* 


82  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

grace  pass  into  a  life,  a  habit,  then  ye  shall  be  able  to 
do  anything,  and  nothing  shall  be  too  hard  for  you.  But  a 
life  of  faith  is  necessary  for  the  growth  of  faith,  and  ye  will 
meet  with  trials  of  your  faith,  which  pothing  but  the  habit 
of  your  faith  will  be  able  to  carry  you  through ;  and  ye 
shall  have  works  of  faith  to  do,  evil  spirits  to  overcome,  in 
which  I  shall  have  to  tell  you,  This  kind  goeth  not  out 
but  by  prayer  and  fasting.  Pray,  fast,  watch,  labor,  strive, 
discipline  yourselves  as  God  leads  you  on,  and  co-operate 
with  him,  while  he  is  working  in  and  <tipon  you,  and  ye 
shall  have  a  lasting  faith,  and  a  habit  of  faith  that  can 
remove  mountains. 

Now  this  truth  of  gradualism  in  the  growth,  nourishment, 
and  discipline  of  faith,  and  this  dependence  of  the  power 
and  life  of  faith  upon  practical  obedience,  is  so  important, 
that  there  is  scarcely  anything  in  the  whole  compass  of 
theology  more  essential  for  the  soul  to  study  and  be 
thoroughly  acquainted  with.  God's  manner  of  discipline 
with  us  must  be  known  in  some  degree,  that  we  may  not 
ignorantly  go  against  it,  or  mistake,  or  thwart  it,  or  perplex 
ourselves  unnecessarily  on  account  of  it,  or  deprive  our 
souls  of  the  good  they  might  enjoy  in  and  from  it.  God's 
discipline  with  us  is  education,  the  education  of  our  souls 
for  eternity.  It  is  at  first  a  discipline  to  prepare  us  for  his 
service,  to  form,  draw  forth,  and  invigorate  our  spiritual 
faculties,  to  be  exercised  for  his  glory,  in  the  spread  of  his 
kingdom,  in  the  work  of  doing  good,  in  a  world  of  sin  and 
sorrow,  pain  and  conflict.  It  is  also  a  discipline  in  itself, 
through  this  consequent  and  attendant  habit  of  service, 
obedience,  and  self-denying  love,  for  the  blissful  enjoyment 
of  God  himself  in  heaven,  and  for  an  infinitely  higher  and 
more  extended  service  of  faith,  and  position  of  glorious  use- 
fulness, in  that  eternal  kingdom.  God  acts  with  us  as  free 
agents,  whose  elements  of  character  are  all  voluntary,  whose 
good  must  be  voluntary,  or  it  is  not  good.  Faith,  in  all  its 
varieties,  must  be  the  act  and  exercise  of  our  own  souls,  as 
well  as  the  gift  of  God.  It  must  be,  under  God's  working,  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  83 

co-operation  of  our  own  spirits  with  his  Spirit,  working  in 
us  both  to  will  and  to  do. 

It  is  by  work  here  that  God  prepares  us  for  rest  here- 
after. It  is  by  faith  here,  amidst  difficulties,  that  God 
prepares  us  for  sight  hereafter,  amidst  light  and  glory 
ineffable,  inconceivable.  The  more  work  here,  the  deeper 
and  more  blissful  rest  hereafter.  The  more  faith  here, 
amidst  discouragements  and  darkness,  the  vaster,  clearer, 
more  transporting  sight  hereafter.  The  subduing  of  the 
will  here  to  God's  will,  the  habit  of  self-denial  formed  under 
the  teachings  and  the  power  of  faith,  the  habit  of  working 
for  God  amidst  doubts  and  difficulties,  will  be  followed  by 
a  state  where  no  self-denial  is  needed,  because  the  will  is 
completely  one  with  God's  will,  because  the  soul  is  entirely 
absorbed  in  God  and  his  blissful  service  and  glory,  without 
any  mixture  of  sin,  any  thought  of  self,  any  experience  of 
evil.  Heaven  itself  is  this  perfect  delight  in  the  will  and 
service  of  God.  Heaven  is  a  state,  not  a  place,  or  it  is  a 
place,  because  it  is  a  state  first ;  a  place  and  state  of  glory 
and  rest  hereafer,  because  there  was  a  place  and  state  of 
difficulty  and  grace  here.  Now  God  works  in  his  children 
the  preparation,  the  fitness,  for  Heaven  as  an  eternal,  im- 
mutable place  and  state  of  glory  and  blessedness  hereafter, 
by  passing  them  through  a  medium  of  refining  fire  here ; 
by  leading  them  through  a  state  and  place  of  difficulty, 
conflict,  self-denial,  service,  where  service  is  costly ;  leading 
them  by  grace  in  exercise,  grace  in  conflict,  grace  fervently 
sought  and  labored  after,  to  the  state  and  place,  where 
grace  is  sole  and  supreme  in  an  eternal  likeness  and  one- 
ness with  God. 

This  was  Christ's  work  with  his  disciples  on  earth.  It 
is  still  his  work,  now  that  he  reigns  in  heaven.  While  he 
was  himself  on  earth,  the  object  of  sight  rather  than  faith, 
their  faith  was  stationary  in  its  progress  ;  it  was  germinat- 
ing and  preparing  for  growth,  but  their  sight  itself  pre- 
vented faith.  Christ  was  preparing  them  by  his  discipline 
and  instructions,  and  then,  so  soon  as  he  himself  was  taken 


84          GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRTST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS. 

up  out  of  their  sight,  their  faith  grew  like  a  mighty  tree 
that  could  brave  the  most  terrible  tempests.  When  every 
sensible  stay  was  taken  away  from  them,  when  all  the 
pillars  of  hope  had  been  broken,  on  yvhich  they  had  con- 
fidently leaned  while  Christ  was  with  them,  looking  even 
to  the  last  moment  of  life  for  a  temporal  deliverance,  king- 
dom, and  reign  ;  when  every  expectation  of  that  nature,  and 
every  earthly  imagination,  had  vanished  with  the  sufferings, 
death,  resurrection,  and  ascension  of  Christ,  then  faith 
took  firm  hold  upon  the  promises ;  then  faith  communed 
with,  and  relied  upon,  an  unseen  spiritual  Almighty 
Saviour ;  then  faith  grew  with  the  greater  rapidity  for  its 
long  previous  discipline  in  Christ's  own  presence.  Christ's 
departing  words  had  a  great  meaning  for  his  disciples, 
which  they  were  not  then  aware  of.  "  It  is  expedient  for 
you  that  I  go  away  from  you ;  if  I  depart  not,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  to  you."  If  Christ  had  not  departed,  the 
work  of  the  Comforter,  the  work  of  faith,  could  not  have 
been  completed.  It  is  often  necessary  that  sensible  sup- 
ports and  stays  be  removed,  before  the  soul  will  rest  upon 
those  which  are  unseen,  eternal,  and  spiritual. 

One  sun  by  day,  by  night  ten  thousand  shine, 
And  light  us  deep  into  the  Deity  ! 

Yea,  when  the  day  that  lighted  us  to  our  earthly  busi- 
ness, our  cares  of  sight  and  sense,  and  also  kept  the 
outward  sensitive  organization  of  our  nature  so  wakeful 
and  active,  and  so  fully  occupied,  that  there  was  hardly  a 
moment  for  thought,  has  passed  into  the  silence  and  dark- 
ness of  midnight,  then  not  only  the  starry  heavens  reveal 
the  infinite  extent  of  God's  universe,  but  faith  is  quickened, 
and  in  solemn,  holy  meditation  and  prayer,  rises  to  heaven. 
So  it  is  with  God's  gracious  discipline.  When  the  shades  of 
darkness  fall,  when  the  winds  rise,  and  deep  calleth  unto 
deep  at  the  noise  of  God's  water-spouts,  then  there  is 
nothing  but  God  left  for  the  soul  by  faith  to  rest  upon. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


The  germ  and  the  blade  under  discipline  for  the  harvest. — Contrast  and  variety 
of  spiritual  experiences. 

AMONG  the  parables  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  there  are  none 
more  beautiful  and  full  of  sacred  meaning,  than  those  whose 
imagery  is  taken  from  the  processes  of  seed  time  and 
harvest.  He  gives  us  a  system  of  accountability  and 
retribution  sometimes  in  a  single  sentence,  and  in  like  man- 
ner sketches  the  process  and  progress  of  his  own  grace. 
"So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed 
into  the  ground,  and  should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day, 
and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up,  he  knoweth  not 
how.  For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 
This  illustration  we  doubt  not  was  meant  to  be  applied 
both  to  individual  experience,  and  to  the  workings  of  God's 
Providence  and  grace  on  a  scale  as  wide  as  the  world. 
We  have  here  a  picture  of  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  both  in  an  individual  soul,  and  in  the  nations.  But 
perhaps  the  more  direct  application  of  the  figure  is  to  the 
workings  of  God's  regenerating  Word  and  Spirit  in  the 
individual  heart. 

Our  Blessed  Lord  says  that  this  working  is  like  seed  cast 
into  the  ground,  which  the  earth  brings  forth  of  itself  into 
fruit.  There  is  here,  as  elsewhere,  a  picture  of  God 
working,  and  man  co-operating  with  God.  It  is  not  God 


86  GRACE    AND   TRUTH, 

alone,  nor  man  alone,  but  God  in  man ;  as  it  is  not  the 
seed  alone  nor  the  earth  alone,  but  the  seed  in  the  earth, 
and  the  earth  by  fructifying  powers  and  tendencies  given 
to  it  of  God,  and  active  according  tojGod's  arrangement. 
Although  faith  is  as  a  seed,  or  a  germ,  implanted  in  a  pre- 
pared soil,  and  growing  gradually,  as  such  a  plant  grows, 
yet  the  substance  and  the  resemblance  must  not  be  con- 
founded ;  for  faith  in  man's  heart  is  not  itself  a  physical 
germ,  or  growing  plant,  set  in  the  soul  from  abroad,  but  it 
is  a  voluntary  life  of  the  soul,  a  habit  of  the  spiritual 
existence,  by  and  under  the  grace  of  God.  God's  disci- 
pline is  at  work  to  draw  out  the  soul  into  such  habit,  such 
life.  When  such  life  and  habit  are  formed,  and  just  so  far 
as  they  are  formed,  the  object  of  God's  discipline,  per- 
sonally, is  accomplished,  or  at  least  is  going  forward  to  its 
accomplishment.  This  is  our  education  at  the  hand  of 
God.  It  is  not  the  communication  of  immediate  or 
miraculous  power  or  knowledge,  at  which  God,  by  his 
providence  and  grace,  is  aiming,  but  it  is  the  quickening 
and  training  of  our  souls  to  the  possession  and  exercise 
of  the  divine  life.  And  as  a  child  begins  to  learn  to  walk 
by  creeping,  and  to  read  by  spelling;  or  as  a  tree  begins  to 
grow  by  the  blade  first,  or  an  ear  of  wheat  by  the  blade, 
and  then  the  ear,  and  afterwards  the  full  corn  in  the  ear ; 
so  with  our  learning  of  the  life  of  faith,  our  growing  up 
into  the  full  and  perfect  habit  of  that  life. 

The  end,  object,  and  fulfilment  of  that  life  are  future,  and 
God  is  educating  us  not  for  immediate  effects  merely,  but 
for  eternity.  All  our  discipline  is  for  lasting  purposes,  not 
transitory  results,  and  God  will  form  us  to  habits  of  life,  not 
mere  temporary  excitements.  God  will  work  in  us  ele- 
ments of  character,  not  mere  fitful  impulses.  We  look  too 
much  to  present  frames,  enjoyments,  fruits ;  God  looks  to 
eternal  results,  and  an  eternal  life  of  holiness  and  glory. 
We  look  to  that  which  is  transitory ;  God  looks  to  that 
which  is  permanent.  We  look  to  feelings,  emotions, 
speculations;  God  looks  to  active  habits,  and  a  life  made 


CHRIST    IN    THE     AFFECTIONS.  87 

up  of  principles  and  habits,  which  shall  be  the  eternal  in- 
alienable nature  of  our  being. 

Even  for  this  world  alone,  this  is  the  only  true  concep- 
tion of  education.  To  educate  a  child  is  not  merely  to 
store  the  soul  with  knowledge,  but  to  draw  forth  and 
strengthen  the  sensibilities  and  faculties  of  mind  and  heart. 
While  the  understanding  is  yet  tender,  its  powers  in  their 
greenness  and  infancy,  but  little  knowledge,  and  that  very 
gradually,  can  be  received ;  but  the  faculties  themselves 
must  be  developed  and  exercised ;  and  a  true  education  is 
the  preparation  of  the  mind,  by  such  wise  and  well  directed 
discipline,  by  the  formation  of  good  habits,  through  judi- 
cious instruction  and  example,  for  the  proper  acting  of  its 
part  in  the  world ;  for  those  occasions,  where  not  mere 
knowledge,  but  a  well  prepared,  disciplined,  and  balanced 
judgment  will  be  requisite,  with  strong  habits  of  thought, 
of  decision,  of  comparison,  of  selection,  and  just,  manly, 
virtuous,  religious  principles  of  action.  This  is  education  ; 
not  the  crowding  of  the  mind  with  rules  and  knowledges, 
but  the  forming  of  the  mind,  from  correct  principles,  to 
upright  habits  and  energetic  appliances.  The  mind  is  not 
a  warehouse,  in  which  goods  are  to  be  stored  for  sale,  but  a 
manufactory,  in  which  great  care  is  to  be  lavished  first 
upon  the  selection  of  the  material  to  be  wrought,  and  next 
upon  the  machinery,  the  right  husbanding  and  direction  of 
the  power,  and  the  combination  of  all  the  agencies  for  the 
greatest  activity  and  productiveness. 

And  thus  it  is  that  God  deals  with  us,  in  disciplining  us 
ny  faith.  He  will  have  habits  of  faith.  He  will  have  not 
merely  passive  emotions,  but  active  habits,  and  a  life. 
He  will  have  not  transitory  forms  of  feeling  merely,  but  a 
fountain  inexhaustible,  a  fire  for  ever  burning,  a  principle, 
a  power,  a  nature.  He  will  draw  out  our  native  powers 
into  a  voluntary,  spontaneous  co-operation  with  his  super- 
natural grace  and  providential  discipline.  Thus  it  is  that 
he  will  make  faith  to  increase  by  exercise.  In  order  to 
produce  that  exercise,  to  draw  forth  the  soul  into  it,  he 


88  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

seems,  sometimes,  to  quit  the  soul,  to  go  away  from  it, 
and  leave  it  to  itself,  in  darkness.  He  deals  with  it,  some- 
times, as  a  mother  deals  with  a  little  child  in  teaching  it  to 
walk.  Who  has  not  watched  the  careful  fond  mother 
setting  down  her  little  child  in  one  part  of  the  room  alone, 
then  gradually  retreating  from  it,  leaving  it  standing  by 
itself,  half  terrified,  and  then  beckoning  to  it,  and  calling  it 
to  take  courage  and  come  ?  Who  has  not  seen  the  little 
trembling  creature  burst  into  tears,  because  it  seemed  to 
be  so  deserted,  and  then  at  length,  gaining  courage  from  ne- 
cessity, with  little  tottering  steps,  advance  towards  the  out- 
stretched arms  of  its  mother,  and  at  last,  having  performed 
the  grand  feat  of  a  walk  quite  across  the  floor,  hide  itself 
rejoiced  and  comforted  in  her  bosom  ?  Thus  God  teaches 
us  to  walk  by  faith.  Thus  God  teaches  us  to  exercise  our 
spritual  faculties  ;  thus  he  draws  forth  our  powers,  our 
affections,  into  a  co-operation  with  his  own  purposes,  pro- 
vidences, and  grace  ;  into  the  formation  of  habits,  that 
shall  grow  with  our  growth  and  strengthen  with  our 
strength,  inlo  life  everlasting. 

Sometimes  his  providences  are  dark,  and  he  seems  to 
have  deserted  the  soul,  when  he  is  only  going  before  it,  and 
calling  it  to  come  after  him.  The  Lord  Jesus  loves  to 
behold  even  the  feeblest  exercise  of  faith,  and  will  neither 
break  the  bruised  seed  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax. 
Sometimes  he  may  seem  to  deny  our  requests,  even  with 
severity,  or  to  pay  no  attention  to  them,  when  in  reality 
he  is  taking  the  very  way  to  answer  them,  and  will  answer 
them  in  that  very  way  which  will  make  the  response  the 
greater  blessing.  Thus  was  it  with  the  Syrophenician 
woman.  Her  heart  was  drawn  out,  by  the  Saviour's 
seeming  neglect,  into  such  a  fervor  of  prayer  and  power 
of  faith,  that  the  effect  of  that  exercise  alone  upon  her  soul 
would  have  been  a  blessing  beyond  all  price ;  and  the  pro- 
duction of  that  state  of  mind,  before  the  mercy  which  she 
sought  was  granted,  made  that  healing  mercy  itself  a 
thousand  times  more  precious.  So  it  is  in  the  case  of 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  89 

every  parent,  who  is  anxiously  seeking  the  conversion  of  a 
dear  child.  God  may  seem  to  defer  his  grace,  may  let 
that  child  long  wander  on  in  paths  of  sin  and  folly,  till  at 
length  the  soul  of  the  parent  shall  have  been  brought  to 
such  an  exercise  of  faith,  that  when  the  conversion  of  the 
child  takes  place,  both  the  sad  anxiety  and  the  blessing, 
both  the  apparent  denial  or  neglect,  and  the  manifest 
answer  of  prayer,  shall  combine  to  work  a  habit  of  faith, 
such  as  no  other  discipline  of  the  soul  could  possibly 
produce. 

Our  expectations  are  not  to  be  made  the  rule  of  God's 
benefactions.  Our  opinions,  suppositions,  imaginations  as 
to  what  is  best,  are  often  widely  different  from  God's 
judgment,  in  the  case  before  us,  as  to  what  is  fit.  And 
the  reason  often  is  that  God  and  we  are  working  for  such 
different  results;  God  for  an  eternal  character ' and  an 
eternal  good,  we,  for  a  relief  from  present  distress,  or  the 
accomplishment  of  a  present  purpose.  God's  ways  in  the 
discipline  of  his  grace  are  not  at  all  as  our  ways,  nor  his 
thoughts  as  our  thoughts  ;  if  they  were,  very  few  of  us 
would  ever  reach  heaven.  Our  ideas  of  what  is  fit  are 
those  of  poor  blind  creatures  of  a  day,  crushed  before  the 
moth.  And  constantly  our  Lord  must  answer  us  as  he 
did  Peter,  "  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou 
shalt  know  hereafter." 

We  often  act  the  part  of  Passion  even  in  regard  to  the 
things  of  grace,  and  would  have  all  our  good  things  now ; 
and  probably  if  God  should  give  them  to  us,  without  the 
gradual  active  habits  necessary  to  prepare  us  for  the  use 
of  them,  we  should  spend  them  all  at  once,  like  Passion. 
We  should  be  Prodigal  Sons,  even  in  the  things  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  should  soon  find  ourselves  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  eating  husks.  It  would  be  as  it  is  with 
ill-educated  children,  on  whom  their  parents  bestow  a 
large  patrimony,  but  who,  not  knowing  how  to  take  care 
of  it,  speedily  run  it  through,  and  come  back,  in  poverty, 
for  more;  while  a  well-educated  son,  trained  to  good 


90  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

habits,  with  principles  rightly  formed  and  developed, 
though  endowed  with  no  patrimony  but  this  good  educa- 
tion, will  accumulate  an  estate  almost  as  fast  as  the  Prodigal 
son  will  waste  one ;  and  having  ihus  virtuously  ac- 
cumulated it,  will  benevolently  use  it.  We  would  often 
receive  all,  and  have  all,  without  the  labor  of  getting  all ; 
but  God  would  have  us  acquire  grace  by  self-denying 
diligence  ;  and  therefore  our  receipts  of  grace  often  come 
in  very  sparingly,  and  are  long  in  coming  ;  not  because 
of  God's  parsimony,  but  our  indolence  ;  not  because  of 
God's  unwillingness  to  give,  but  our  impatience  in  asking, 
and  unfitness  to  receive.  God  will  not  himself  do,  what 
the  prophet,  with  such  rude  vigor  and  point,  tells  us  not  to 
do,  put  our  wages  into  a  bag  with  holes.  It  is  not  only 
many  things  that  Christ  has  to  say  to  his  disciples,  which 
they  cannot  bear  now,  but  many  things  to  give  them, 
which  they  cannot  receive  now,  and  which,  if  they  were 
received,  would  be  wasted,  just  as  if  the  things  were  said, 
they  would  not  be  understood,  or  else  misapplied.  There 
may  be  the  wresting  and  misapplication  of  gifts,  as  well  as 
of  words,  by  those  who  are  unlearned  and  unstable. 

It  is  said  of  Ezra,  that  he  came  to  Jerusalem  with  the 
good  hand  of  his  God  upon  him,  because  he  had  prepared 
his  heart,  to  seek  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  to  do  it.  A 
preparation  of  heart  by  the  discipline  of  faith  is  necessary 
for  the  reception  of  great  gift  s  of  faith  ;  and,  the  discipline  it- 
self is  found  to  be  the  ordinary  channel  through  which  the 
gifts  are  conveyed.  God  would  not  have  us  play  the  part 
of  Passion,  even  in  the  divine  life,  but  of  Patience  ;  and  so 
he  will  teach  us  to  admire  and  love  his  own  discipline. 
We  often  think  we  desire  more  grace,  when  God  sees  that 
we  have  formed  no  habit  of  striving  after  it,  and  are  not 
prepared  to  use  it,  even  if  it  were  received. 

"The  soul  of  the  sluggard  desireth  and  hath  nothing; 
but  the  soul  of  the  diligent  shall  be  made  fat."  Most  true 
is  this  proverb  in  spiritual  things.  If  the  soul  of  the  slug- 
gard should  be  filled  according  to  his  desires,  the  fulness 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  91 

would  not  remain  with  him  ;  it  would  be  soon  gone. 
There  is  no  principle  of  life,  no  habit  of  faith,  in  such  a 
case,  no  element  of  a  divine  nature,  to  turn  what  it 
receives  into  an  everlasting  part  and  possession  of  itself. 
Neither  is  there  any  disposition,  in  such  a  case,  to  go  from 
strength  to  strength,  from  one  degree  of  grace  and  glory 
to  another  ;  but  a  sluggish  inactive  contentment,  like  that 
of  a  lazy,  inefficient  man,  who  would-  rather  live  idly  by 
begging,  than  help  himself. 

While,  therefore,  God  would  not  have  in  his  children  a 
kind  of  passion  that  excludes  patience,  he  would  still  have 
an  unsatisfied  restlessness  in  the  soul  that  comes  to  him 
for  grace,  and  a  perpetual  desire  to  make  each  degree  of 
grace  only  the  stepping  stone  to  a  still  higher  degree. 
"My  soul  followeth  hard  after  thee."  When  there  is  this 
habit  of  progress,  everything  given  is  so  much  gained. 
And  the  proverb  is  especially  true  in  the  things  of  grace, 
that  God  helps  those  who  help  themselves.  "  My  soul 
followeth  hard  after  thee  ;  thy  right  hand  upholdeth  me." 
Those  who  give  all  diligence  to  make  their  calling  and 
election  sure,  are  endowed  of  God  with  such  plenteous 
grace,  and  such  habits  of  grace  are  formed  under  his 
guidance,  that  they  can  hardly  doubt  in  regard  to  their 
filial  relationship  to  God.  But  those  who  wait  for  the 
feeling  of  assurance  to  come  upon  them  like  a  gale  of  wind, 
or  a  prize  in  a  lottery,  or  a  sovereign  fiat  of  the  Almighty, 
will  wait  in  vain ;  and  while  thus  waiting  and  longing, 
will  grow  leaner  and  leaner  in  the  Christian  life.  Indeed, 
there  is  all  the  difference  between  those  who  would  have 
the  Spirit  of  heaven  baptize  and  possess  them  without 
their  own  self-denying  efforts,  and  those  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  the  Christian  conflict,  that  there  is  between  those 
who  would  become  suddenly  rich  by  speculating,  or  by  the 
drawing  of  a  prize,  and  those  who  are  willing  to  gain  a 
competency  by  patient  industry. 

Patience  keeps  all  the  gains  of  grace,  and  wastes 
nothing.  Passion  and  speculation  lose,  as  often  as  they 


92  GHACE    AND    TRUTH, 

gain.  Hence,  your  passionate,  fitful  Christians  are  at  ex- 
tremes ;  sometimes  on  the  heights  of  feeling  and  of  glory, 
sometimes  in  the  depths  of  woe.  But  your  conscientious, 
patient,  diligent  Christians,  are  pressing;  onward  in  a  steady 
progression,  that,  though  it  has  its  depths  and  heights, 
and  sometimes  at  great  distances  between,  is  nevertheless 
as  the  path  of  the  just,  as  the  shining  light,  shining  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  Progression,  not  startling 
inequality,  is  the  satisfactory  proof  of  Christian  experi- 
ence. The  blade,  the  ear,  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  the  blade  and  the  ear  ;  the 
difference  would  be  a  startling  inequality,  if  one  morning 
the  ear  should  be  visible  ripening  towards  the  full,  and  the 
next  morning  it  should  be  found,  over  night,  to  have 
retreated  back  into  the  blade.  But  such  is  not  Christian 
experience.  Inequalities  may  be  great  at  different  inter- 
vals, and  if  a  Christian  be  a  growing  Christian,  they  will 
be  great ;  but  great  by  gradual  growth,  not  by  sudden  and 
startling  change,  either  of  increase  or  decrease.  They 
will  be  great  by  growth  from  less  grace  to  greater,  great 
by  comparison  of  the  blade  with  the  ear,  but  not  by  sud- 
den changes,  or  mere  frames  of  feeling  ;  great  by  growth 
from  glory  to  glory ;  we  all,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image,  from 
glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

Now  we  think  this  is  the  scriptural  exhibition.  But  is 
it  always  thus  to  sight  and  present  experience,  or  is  this 
simply  a  statement  of  \vhat  takes  place  in  reality,  through 
fluctuations  of  feeling  and  changes  of  present  experi- 
ence, that  seem,  at  times,  the  elements  of  a  very  different 
agency,  the  march  of  an  absolutely  contrasted  and  oppo- 
site progression  ?  Undoubtedly  this  progress  from  glory 
to  glory  is  often  a  thing  unknown  in  present  experience, 
though  actually  going  on  by  the  grace  of  God.  There 
may  be  present  experience  that  looks  like  despair,  which 
shall  be  but  the  necessary  step  to  the  next  degree  of 
glory  ;  there  may  be  great  extremes  by  God's  discipline, 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  93 

which  are  not  fitful  extremes  by  human  passion.  David 
passed  through  such  extremes,  now  in  the  heights,  now  in 
the  depths,  now  apparently  almost  in  heaven,  now  in  hell. 
Sometimes  his  soul  sits  and  sings,  like  a  bird  lighting  from 
the  clear  air  upon  the  topmost  leafy  bough  of  a  tree,  fresh 
with  the  dew  of  the  morning  ;  sometimes  he  seems  not 
only  to  desire,  but  really  to  possess,  wings  like  a  dove  to 
fly  away  and  be  at  rest.  Then  again  he  chatters  like  a 
crane  or  a  swallow ;  he  is  like  an  owl  of  the  desert,  like  a 
pelican  of  the  wilderness.  Sometimes  his  heart  rejoices 
in  God  like  a  water-brook,  again  it  is  like  a  dry,  crinkling, 
leathern  bottle  in  the  smoke.  Sometimes  his  soul  cleaveth 
unto  the  dust,  and  then  again  starts  forward  like  an  arrow, 
and  rises  like  an  eagle.  Sometimes  his  bones  are  burned 
as  an  hearth,  and  his  heart  is  smitten  and  withered  like 
grass  ;  and  then  again  he  rises  to  heaven  like  a  bright 
flame,  or  his  soul  is  as  Mount  Zion  that  cannot  be 
removed,  but  abideth  for  ever. 

Compare  the  88th  Psalm  with  the  118th  or 'the  104th, 
and  see  if  you  could  possibly  recognise  them  as  records  of 
the  same  soul's  experience.  In  one  view  you  will  say  no ; 
in  another,  yes,  because  the  tenor  of  the  one  Psalm  in  the 
depths,  just  implies  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  other  on 
the  heights  ;  and  those  changes  are  inevitable  to  deep 
feeling,  changes  from  despondency  to  exultation,  from 
despair  to  triumph,  from  darkness  to  light.  The  same 
deep  and  strong  feeling  in  view  of  one's  own  guilt,  shut 
up  to  that,  will  be  like  an  envelopment  in  the  fire  and 
smoke  of  the  bottomless  pit  ;  when  in  view  of  God's 
glorious  attributes  and  of  Christ's  preciousness,  loveliness, 
and  mercy,  it  will  be  like  an  embathing  in  the  flood  of 
melody  and  light  from  the  open  gates  of  heaven.  But 
these  inequalities  and  extremes  may  take  place  under  the 
same  degree  of  grace  and  strength  and^  glory  in  the  soul. 
These  changes  may  be  changes  of  God's  discipline  for  the 
promotion  of  his  grace.  They  may  be  like  the  changes 
of  rain  and  storm  and  dry  weather  and  sunshine  upon  the 


94  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

same  green  blade,  which  under  all  is  steadily  ripening  into 
the  ear,  but  which,  if  it  were  a  sensitive  intelligence,  like 
man's  soul,  might  suppose  that  all  these  changes  were 
within  itself,  parts  of  its  own  life,  instead  of  the  discipline 
of  God  for  the  growth  of  that  life.  They  may  also  be 
changes,  that  depend  more  upon  natural  temperament 
than  grace  ;  changes  of  God's  discipline  to  bring  nature 
under  grace.  Many  of  the  changes  in  a  character  like 
Dr.  Payson's  we  shall  find  to  be  changes  of  natural  tem- 
perament under  the  discipline  of  grace,  or  of  divine 
providence  for  the  production  of  grace ;  while  again  the 
changes  in  a  character  like  President  Edwards',  are  more 
directly,  immediately,  and  serenely,  changes  of  and  by 
grace. 

Variety  in  natural  temperament  calls  for  variety  in 
God's  discipline,  and  makes  variety  in  the  development 
and  appearance  of  grace.  Some  souls  are  so  like  crystal, 
or  clear  glass,  that  the  light  of  heaven,  the  light  of  grace, 
seems  to  shine  through  them  in  its  own  serene  purity 
unchanged.  Others  are  like  a  prism,  or  window  of  stained 
glass,  where  the  light  comes  through  particular  fancies  and 
tendencies  of  character,  and  with  colors  more  human 
than  divine.  And  yet,  the  last  display  may  seem  the  most 
splendid  and  imposing,  the  work  of  the  greatest  labor, 
disclosing  more  of  the  divine  glory ;  whereas,  the  first 
gives  the  most  direct,  simple,  unerring  view  of  God  and 
his  grace.  You  see  through  the  ,  first  more  of  the  very 
light  of  heaven,  through  the  last  a  mixture  of  human 
temperaments  and  sympathies.  Change  in  the  last  may 
be  more  manifest  than  in  the  first,  and  growth  in  grace 
may  be  more  perceptible, 'just  because  there  was  more  of 
the  merely  human  that  needed  to  be  removed  ;  and  as  that 
is  taken  away,  and  the  divine  supplies  its  place,  the  change 
is  more  noticeable.  The  change  from  sin  to  holiness  may 
be  regarded  as  more  wonderful  than  the  change  from  glory 
to  glory  ;  but  it  is  not  more  beautiful.  Grace  changes  by 
degrees,  and  degrees  only,  from  good  to  better,  from  less 


CHRIST     IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  95 

to  greater.  Nature,  under  the  discipline  of  grace,  changes 
in  quality,  from  bad  to  good,  from  sin  to  holiness,  from 
self  to  God. 

On  this  subject,  the  remarks  of  President  Edwards  in 
his  work  on  Revivals  of  Religion,  as  well  as  in  the  book 
of  Religious  Affections,  are  exceedingly  instructive  and 
valuable.  His  section  on  the  experiences  of  Christians  is 
full  of  profound  wisdom  ;  the  passages  on  defective  ex- 
periences, on  the  degenerating  of  experiences,  and  also  on 
the  mixture  of  evil  in  the  best  experiences,  should  be  read 
with  care  and  self-examination.  They  strike  at  the  root 
of  all  imaginary  perfection,  and  put  the  soul  on  its  guard 
against  giving  advantage  to  the  devil  through  ignorance 
of  his  devices. 

The  testimony  of  a  man  like  Edwards  on  the  question,  of 
spiritual  perfection  in  this  world,  is  of  so  much  the  greater 
importance,  because  it  was  not  given  in  argument  on  a 
point,  not  proposed  for  the  establishing  of  an  opinion,  not 
controversial  in  any  way,  but  rather  incidental,  in  the  sim- 
ple outpouring  of  the  treasures  of  experience,  observation, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God.  "  Indeed,"  says 
Edwards,  "  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Christians  ever 
have  any  experiences  in  this  world,  that  are  wholly  pure, 
entirely  spiritual,  without  any  mixture  of  what  is  natural 
and  carnal.  The  beam  of  light,  as  it  comes  from  the 
fountain  of  light  upon  our  hearts,  is  pure,  but  as  it  is 
reflected  thence  it  is  mixed  ;  the  seed  as  sent  from  heaven 
and  planted  in  the  heart,  is  pure,  but  as  it  springs  up  out 
of  the  heart,  is  impure  ;  yea,  there  is  commonly  a  much 
greater  mixture  than  persons  for  the  most  part  seem  to 
have  any  imagination  of.  I  have  often  thought  that  the 
experiences  of  true  Christians  are  very  frequently,  as  it  is 
with  some  kinds  of  fruits,  that  are  enveloped  with  several 
coverings  of  thick  shells  or  pods,  which  are  thrown  away 
by  him  that  gathers  the  fruit,  and  but  a  very  small  part  of 
the  whole  bulk  is  the  pure  kernel,  that  is  good  to  eat." 

This  is  an  admirable  illustration,  the  more  so,  because 

,^^^iri3  J-  •  ""-IlSj^v. 


96  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

it  is  so  humbling  to  the  pride  of  our  nature  ;  it  is  as 
true  as  it  is  beautiful.  The  change  in  this  world,  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  is  always  imperfect,  never 
complete ;  and  yet,  even  in  its  mo^st  imperfect  com- 
mencement, how  glorious,  how  blessed  !  How  blessed  to 
be  thus  beneath  the  forming  hand  of  God  our  Saviour  ! 
How  happy  is  a  Christian,  whom  God  is  leading  onward 
and  upward  to  glory,  under  all  this  experience  !  We  care 
not  what  at  present  may  be  the  phase  of  this  experience. 
The  Christian  may  seem  to  be  brought  by  it  to  the  very 
gates  of  hell ;  yet  even  there,  or  groping  his  way  with  sighs 
and  groans  unutterable  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
he  is  infinitely  happier  than  the  most  joyous  and  favored 
of  the  children  of  this  world.  For  God  is  with  him,  pre- 
paring him  for  himself,  and  perhaps  passing  his  soul 
through  some  faint  experience  of  hell  beforehand,  that  he 
may  be  purged  from  sin  and  saved  from  hell  for  ever. 
Yea,  he  may  be  passing  through  the  fire  now,  that  the  fire 
may  never  have  power  to  touch  him  hereafter.  But  the 
prosperous  child  of  this  world  is  drawn  of  Satan  through 
a  career  of  pleasure  here,  that  he  may  be  kept  from  God 
and  plunged  in  fire  hereafter. 

To  return  once  more  to  the  beautiful  figure  under  which 
our  Blessed  Lord  has  illustrated  the  work  of  his  grace ;  it 
is  manifest  from  its  nature  that  it  has,  at  a  definite  period, 
for  which  no  other  period  can  be  exchanged,  its  beginning, 
its  progress,  and  its  end.  It  is  just  as  peculiar  and  ap- 
propriate, and  we  may  add  essential,  as  the  seedtime  to 
the  husbandman,  and  the  summer  to  the  growth  of  nature, 
and  the  autumn  to  the  reaper.  If  the  seedtime  be  deferred 
to  the  autumn,  will  the  harvest  ripen  in  the  winter  ?  If 
the  careless  husbandman  refuse  to  sow  in  the  spring,  or 
the  thorny  earth  refuse  its  ministrations  in  the  summer, 
and  produce  but  nettles,  what  is  there  for  it  in  the 
autumn  but  to  be  burned  ?  Whose  end,  says  the  apostle, 
comparing  it  to  the  fruitless  soul,  is  to  be  burned. 

There  are  days  of  grace  in  the  summer  season  of  our 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  97 

souls,  presenting  influences  and  opportunities  of  heaven, 
like  the  glorious  autumn  Sabbath  with  its  crystal  atmo- 
sphere, its  heavenly  repose,  its  serene  and  sacred  light ; 
days  given  of  God  in  mercy  to  the  soul  for  its  growth  in 
God's  own  likeness.  There  is  a  season  of  such  visitation 
for  every  soul,  but  certainly  it  is  not  often  repeated,  it  may 
never  return,  and  therefore,  if  neglected,  is  neglected  for 
ever.  And  if  the  work  of  grace  be  not  begun  in  life,  it 
will  neither  be  begun  nor  completed  in  eternity.  Habit, 
the  habit  of  grace  as  well  as  sense,  is  a  thing  of  time. 
The  formation  of  character  takes  time ;  a  character  for 
heaven  as  well  as  hell.  If  the  heavenly  work  be  begun 
in  season,  it  is  well.  But  if  not,  then  you  are  taking 
all  the  time  of  your  probation  for  evil ;  and  if  the  period 
for  the  growth  of  good  be  passed,  you  are  lost ;  it  is  the 
destruction  of  the  soul  for  ever.  Then  cometh  the  end. 
The  angels  are  the  reapers.  Let  both  grow,  tares  and 
wheat,  together  until  the  harvest. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Individuality  and  independence. — God  in  man,  not  man  reduplicated. — Entire 
dependence  God-ward,  entire  independence  and  originality,  man-ward. — 
Helps  from  Christian  biographies. — Supremacy  and  power  of  Christ's 
example. 

FAITH  in  Christ  is  in  every  man  who  possesses  it  the  most 
purely  original  and  independent  part  of  his  character. 
Indeed,  reliance  upon  Christ  is  a  man's  only  originality 
and  independence  ;  everything  else,  in  the  whole  empire 
of  sin  and  the  experience  of  fallen  beings,  he  learns  from 
his  fellow-men  and  imitates.  His  faith  is  his  own,  taught 
and  produced  in  him  only  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Work  out 
your  own  salvation, — for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you. 
There  is  great  emphasis  in  this  text  upon  that  word  own. 

Work  out  your  own  salvation,  each  for  himself,  in  reli- 
ance only  on  God,  not  upon  man,  not  upon  one  another. 
Individual  dependence  upon  God  in  Christ  is  the  great 
lesson  of  the  gospel ;  an  independence  of  man  and  a 
dependence  on  God  as  entire  and  perfect,  as  if  each 
individual  were  the  only  being  to  be  saved  in  the  world, 
the  only  one  under  Christian  duties  and  responsibilities. 
Every  soul  is  to  work  out  its  own  salvation,  in  a  depend- 
ence on  God  as  independent  of  man,  as  if  there  were  no 
other  soul  in  the  same  conflict,  or  that  had  ever  passed 
through  it.  The  instrumentalities  of  men  upon  one 
another  are  simply  God's  agencies  to  accomplish  this 
individual  work.  All  the  complications  and  responsibilities 
of  society,  and  of  social  duties,  are  just  a  series  of  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  99 

demands,  the  causes,  and  occasions  of  individual  effort. 
The  world  is  a  great  school,  a  spiritual  gymnasium  for  the 
soul.  All  things  are  meant  to  bring  men  to  God.  Jacob's 
ladder  is  not  merely  let  down  from  heaven ;  life  itself  and 
all  things  in  it  are  such  a  ladder  if  there  be  a  dreaming 
soul,  and  a  disposition  to  see  and  use  all  things  in  the  light 
of  heaven.  Men,  events,  blessings,  trials,  relationships, 
necessities,  dependencies,  charities,  duties,  cares,  and 
businesses,  may  be  steps  in  the  ladder,  with  angels  ascend- 
ing and  descending. 

The  gospel  distribution  of  responsibility  throws  at  the 
same  time  all  upon  one,  and  one  upon  all.  It  does  this  in 
a  way  that  is  almost  contradictory.  Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  But  let  every 
man  prove  his  own  work,  and  then  shall  he  have  rejoicing 
in  himself  alone,  and  not  in  another.  For  every  man 
shall  bear  his  own  burden.  If  every  man  is  to  bear 
his  own  burden,  it  might  be  asked,  how  can  each  bear 
the  other's  ?  And  again,  if  ye  bear  one  another's  bur- 
dens, how  can  each  have  rejoicing  in  himself  alone, 
and  not  in  another  ?  The  truth  is,  here  is  the  very  per- 
fection of  society,  set  down  in  these  brief  items  ;  the 
perfection  at  once  of  dependence  and  independence,  of 
personal  and  mutual  responsibility  and  accountability. 
In  this  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  formed  by  each 
one  having  as  much  at  heart  the  welfare  of  others  as  his 
own,  each  individual  is  to  regard  all  others  as  so  many 
reduplicates  of  self,  to  be  blest  and  benefited,  and  every 
individual  is  to  avoid  throwing  his  own  burdens  upon 
others.  Each  is  to  prove  his  own  work,  and  not  leave  it- 
to  be  accomplished  by  others,  and  at  the  same  time  each 
is  to  help  all  others  as  often  as  he  can  find  opportunity. 
And  the  opportunity  to  bless  others  is  to  be  regarded  as 
itself  one  of  the  greatest  of  blessings.  This,  I  say,  is  the 
society  of  heaven  ;  this  is  perfect  love,  casting  out  fear ; 
this  would  put  a  stop  to  human  misery,  and  make  angels 
out  of  men. 


100  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Now  in  this  state  of  things,  the  more  earnestly  a  man 
endeavors  to  prove  his  own  work,  and  to  have  rejoicing 
in  himself  alone  and  not  in  another,  the  more  he  will  have 
rejoicing  in  others'  holiness  as  the  fruit^of  his  own.  The 
more  a  man  relies  solely  upon  God,  the  more  he  will  have 
others  relying  on  himself,  or  thrown  upon  himself  to  be 
blest  by  him.  It  is  one  of  the  rewards  of  such  independ- 
ence of  man  in  reliance  upon  God,  one  of  the  rewards  of 
eminent  piety  in  proving  its  own  work,  to  be  constituted 
a  great  instrumentality  of  God  in  winning  other  souls  to 
piety  and  heaven.  The  more  entirely  and  thoroughly  a 
man,  in  humble  dependence  upon  God,  does  his  own  work, 
the  more  he  will  help  others  to  do  their  work,  and  the 
more  of  others'  work  God  will  enable  him  to  do,  and  give 
him  opportunity  to  do,  for  God.  This,  I  say,  is  a  great 
reward  of  original,  laborious,  deep  piety,  You  may  see  it 
in  the  case  of  such  men  as  Baxter  and  Bunyan,  Halybur- 
ton,  Edwards,  and  Payson.  Never  leaving  other  men  to 
bear  their  burdens,  but  always  going  to  God  alone  with 
them,  and  looking  to  God's  discipline  and  Christ's  example, 
not  man's,  God  has  given  them,  in  consequence,  the  inesti- 
mable privilege  of  bearing  the  burdens  and  blessing  the 
souls  of  very  many  others,  so  fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ. 
And  though  they  have  now  rested  from  their  labors,  as  we 
call  labor,  yet  still  in  their  works  they  are  the  burden- 
bearers  of  the  Christian  world ;  in  their  works  they  are 
still  going  about  doing  good,  and  in  some  measure,  like 
Christ  himself,  bearing  men's  infirmities,  and  healing  their 
sicknesses.  In  this  sense,  though  they  rest  from  their 
labors,  their  works  still  follow  them. 

But  piety  cannot  be  gained  by  proxy ;  and  although 
God  makes  use  of  these  secondary  instrumentalities  to 
bring  men  to  himself,  it  is  a  great  evil,  when  men  rely 
upon  the  instrumentalities  instead  of  God,  and  imitate 
Christ's  agencies  instead  of  Christ.  A  secondary  and 
second  rate  piety  is  the  consequence,  instead  of  original 
and  deep  experience.  Men  cease  to  prove  their  own  work, 


CHRIST    IN    THE     AFFECTIONS.  101 

and  to  have  rejoicing  in  themselves  alone.  Their  piety 
becomes  a  superficial  imitation,  not  of  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  our  Faith,  but  of  poor  creatures  like  them- 
selves. It  is  the  copy  of  a  copy,  and  perhaps  the  very 
imperfections  are  imitated.  Men  use  the  language  and 
adopt  the  phrases  taught  by  the  piety  of  others,  without 
the  fire  of  that  piety  to  give  life  and  meaning  to  the  lan- 
guage. The  expressions  of  religious  experience  are  the 
work  of  foreign  or  external  and  artificial  training,  and  not 
fresh  from  the  heart.  Imitative  diaries  become  common, 
with  the  same  complaints,  the  same  confessions,  the  same 
mournings,  the  same  forms  of  prayer.  Religious  experi- 
ence becomes  a  monotonous  stereotype,  a  fashion,  a  pre- 
vailing manner,  not  a  living  spirit  and  a  new  creation. 

But  the  Christian  conflict  cannot  be  imitated.  The 
soul  must  not  merely  speculate  about  it,  nor  gaze  upon 
others'  record  of  it,  but  engage  in  it,  each  soul  for  itself. 
So  run  I,  not  as  uncertainly,  said  the  apostle  ;  so  fight  I, 
not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air.  The  closest  watching  of 
the  Christian  pilgrimage,  the  most  accurate  acquaintance 
with  its  theory,  will  be  of  no  avail  without  this.  One  soul 
cannot  be  inspired  by  the  fire  of  another's  piety,  nor  pos- 
sess its  elements,  except  by  an  original  personal  application 
to  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God.  The  world  may  cry, 
Give  us  of  your  oil ;  but  the  answer  ever  must  be,  Go  ye 
and  buy  for  yourselves.  We  are  to  look  to  the  Author 
and  Finisher.  Faith  must  be  faith  in  Chrm,  not  in 
Richard  Baxter. 

Nothing  can  be  an  element  of  life  and  power  in  the 
Christian  but  what  is  thus  original.  There  may  be  great 
speculative  knowledge  without  this,  but  it  will  be  inert  and 
cold.  Only  that  which  comes  burning  from  the  heart 
will  reach  the  heart.  The  fire  of  God's  Wo^d  must  be  a 
fire  of  experience,  a  fire  of  faith,  in  the  Christian's  own 
soul,  as  a  flame  in  one's  bones,  before  it  can  be  like  the  fire 
and  the  hammer  upon  other  souls.  What  a  man  has 
gained  for  himself,  with  great  care  and  labor,  he  will  value 


102  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  keep ;  he  will  know  how  to  use  it,  and  increase  it, 
whether  it  be  knowledge  or  wealth.  In  Christian  experi- 
ence, a  little  that  is  one's  own  is  better  than  whole  volumes 
at  second-hand.  The  knowledge  of  his  own  poverty  that 
a  righteous  man  hath  is  better  than  the  riches  of  many 
wicked.  Indeed,  the  experience,  the  sense,  of  our  vanity 
and  misery  out  of  Christ  is  itself  great  riches.  Every- 
thing is  great  riches,  which  a  man  receives  direct  from  the 
Saviour ;  and  all  true  Christian  experience  comes  direct 
from  him.  Hence,  while  the  charge  is,  Work  out  your 
own,  the  effect  of  so  working  is  to  make  the  soul  feel  that 
it  is  all  of  Christ,  that  all  which  we  can  justly  call  our 
own  is  mere  guilt  and  wretchedness.  The  more  a  man 
receives  from  Christ,  the  poorer  he  feels,  and  the  richer, 
at  one  and  the  same  time  ;  the  poorer  in  himself,  the 
richer  in  his  Saviour.  The  heaven-taught  knowledge  of 
this  poverty  is  itself  great  power  and  riches,  while  the 
imagination  of  great  self-riches  is  the  most  disastrous 
weakness  and  poverty. 

If  a  man  works  his  own,  without  entire  dependence  on 
Christ,  and  the  experience  of  God  working  in  him,  he  works 
a  mine  of  death.  If  he  accumulates  what  he  regards  as  his 
own  righteousness,  to  make  sure  of  heaven,  and  does  not, 
in  utter  abrogation  of  self,  throw  himself  on  Christ,  he 
works  not  his  own  salvation,  but  his  own  ruin.  The  story 
is  told  in  Oriental  fable  of  a  man  who  gathered  great  stores 
of  grain  ift  his  warehouse  against  a  time  of  famine,  and 
waited  till  the  price  should  rise.  He  saw  the  misery  of 
the  poor,  but  still  kept  his  warehouse  shut  till  the  grain 
should  bring  the  price  his  greediness  demanded  for  it.  At 
length  the  price  got  to  that  height,  and  then  he  took  the 
key  and  went  to  unlock  his  gates,  exulting  in  the  thought 
of  the  enorrngus  wealth  of  which  he  was  coming  in  pos- 
session ;  when  lo  !  a  worm  had  penetrated  the  warehouse, 
and  his  grain  was  a  vast  heap  of  rottenness.  So  is  he 
that  layeth  up  treasure  for  himself  and  is  not  rich  towards 
God.  So  is  he  that  accumulates  and  endeavors  to  live 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  103 

upon  his  own  or  others'  experience,  but  not  in  Christ. 
That  which  is  not  of  faith,  not  received  in  daily  reliance 
upon  God,  in  daily  renewed  experience  in  Christ,  breeds 
worms,  like  the  manna  hoarded  by  the  Israelites  in  unbelief, 
which  stank  and  could  not  be  eaten.  So  a  self-righteous 
or  borrowed  experience  rots  on  one's  hands. 

And  yet,  the  experience  of  others  is  of  inestimable 
value,  properly  used.  All  things  are  to  be  tried  by  God's 
Word,  and  the  soul  must  gain  its  own  growth  jn  Christ  by 
feeding  upon  that  Word.  But  the  experience  of  others 
may  be  a  great  encouragement  and  help.  Such  a  help 
Bunyan  once  found  in  reading  Luther  on  Galatians ;  it 
seemed  to  him  as  if  the  book  were  written  out  of  his  own 
heart.  It  was  written  out  of  Luther's  heart,  or  rather  out  of 
the  Word  in  Luther's  heart,  and  described  the  same  con- 
flicts through  which  Bunyan  in  his  loneliness  had  been  toil- 
ing and  battling,  not  knowing  that  any  other  creature  in  the 
world  had  ever  passed  through  the  same.  So,  when 
Bunyan  found  his  own  experience  drawn  out  in  such  vivid 
coloring  and  language  in  Luther's  account  of  the  saint's 
experience  according  to  God's  Word,  it  was  a  surprising 
comfort  to  him.  But  it  was  not  a  thing  to  begin  with,  or 
to  copy  from,  but  to  meet  with  by  the  way,  and  compare 
notes,  turning  all  the  while  to  God's  Word.  And  this  is 
just  the  use  which  should  be  made  of  religious  biographies. 
It  is  not  from  them  that^we  are  to  learn  the  language  or 
derive  the  modes  of  true  religious  experience,  but  from 
God's  Word.  There  may  be  things  in  them  to  aid  us,  to 
animate  us,  to  warn,  to  reprove,  and  humble  us,  but  they 
cannot  be  our  guides,  our  models.  There  is  but  one 
model,  and  that  is  at  once  our  Law  and  o»r  Lord.  All 
others  are  to  be  regarded  only  as  they  resemble  that.  Be 
ye  followers  of  me,  said  Paul,  just  so  far  as  I  also  am  of 
Christ.  Bright  human  examples  are  good,  so  far  as  they 
reflect  the  glory  of  the  Saviour,  and  turn  the  soul  to  him. 
But  as  in  learning  to  draw,  a  pupil  of  any  ingenuity  will 
not  take  the  paper  and  lay  it  over  the  sketch  before  it  and 


104  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

so  trace  it,  but  with  the  sketch  in  view  will  reproduce  one 
like  it,  but  not  the  same,  using  these  copies  simply  for 
advancement ;  so  we  are  to  use  religious  biographies. 
They  are  simply  helps  to  bring,  us  to  God,  ministering 
impulses,  warnings,  encouragements.  As  Christian  in 
travelling  through  the  Valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
thought  he  heard  a  voice  before  him  singing,  and  it  made 
him  rejoice  even  in  darkness  ;  for  thought  he  within  him- 
self, nobody  could  sing  in  this  place  except  God  was  with 
him,  and  if  God  be  with  the  pilgrim  before  me,  whoever 
he  may  be,  why  not  with  me  also,  although  my  soul  be 
cast  down  within  me  by  these  hideous  sights  and  sounds 
in  the  darkness ;  so  the  reading  of  the  progress  of  other 
Christians  may  rejoice  the  soul  of  the  pilgrim,  and  be  the 
means  of  animating  his  faith.  The  sight  of  God's  grace  in 
others  it  was  always  intended  should  quicken  his  grace  in 
ourselves.  There  is  a  great  and  mighty  use  to  be  made  of 
Christ's  example,  and  only  of  that.  There  is  a  necessity 
for  that  in  our  o\\jn  nature,  a  necessity  of  support  for  our- 
selves, and  of  protection  from  others. 

We  are  all  creatures  of  imitation  :  it  is  a  propensity 
which  seems  absolutely  essential  to  the  existence  of  human 
society.  Most  of  us,  however,  possess  unfortunately  so 
great  a  degree  of  it,  that  it  overpowers  all  originality  of 
character,  and  leaves  us  at  the  mercy  of  all  the  influences 
which  may  be  darted  upon  us  from  every  passing  ac- 
quaintance, and  not  unfrequently  the  sport  of  every 
casualty  that  can  happen.  It  subjects  the  character  to  be, 
we  cannot  say  formed,  but  altered  and  re-altered,  modelled 
and  re-modelled,  actuated  sometimes  for  the  worse,  some- 
times for  the*  better,  by  every  human  mind  with  which  it 
comes  in  contact.  It  leaves  it  to  be  tossed  about  like  a 
piece  of  coin,  till  by  constant,  successive  attrition  every 
vestige  of  any  original  impression  is  worn  away,  and  all 
individuality  is  effaced.  Instead  of  taking  the  formation 
of  our  character  into  our  own  hands,  and  looking  with  a 
watchful  and  suspicious  eye  to  all  the  influences  which 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  105 

may  come  to  us  from  the  friends  and  acquaintances  with 
whom  we  associate,  we  leave  it  as  it  were  an  empty  sheet, 
like  the  blank  space  of  a  subscription  paper,  on  which 
every  man  is  at  liberty  to  write  his  name,  and  leave  the 
impression  of  his  seal,  till  it  is  filled  up,  an  unintelligible 
blot,  the  chaotic  scrawl  of  ten  thousand  confused  and  con- 
trasted signatures.  It  is  mournful  to  think  how  many 
immortal  spirits  we  influence,  and  by  how  many  we  are 
influenced  in  the  course  of  our  lives,  and  yet  how  little 
caution  we  use  as  to  the  moral  and  mental  impressions 
which  we  give  and  receive.  The  pursuits  of  human  life, 
and  the  characters  we  come  in  contact  with,  are  so  varied, 
the  objects  that  are  ever  demanding  our  attention  so 
manifold,  that  we  are  constantly  forgetting  the  great  pur- 
pose of  life,  and  yielding  ourselves  to  the  influence  of 
adventitious  circumstances. 

Hence  the  absolute  necessity  of  one  commanding  model, 
and  but  one,  in  all  the  universe.  We  must  hang  up  the 
portrait  before  us  ;  we  must  study  its  features ;  we  must 
try  to  catch  its  spirit,  and  to  assimilate,  oy  God's  grace,  by 
constant  exertion,  our  own  character  to  its  glories.  By  it 
we  must  correct  our  wanderings,  measure  our  improve- 
ments, ascertain  what  manner  of  spirit  we  are  of.  Unless 
this  be  the  case,  instead  of  imitating  one,  we  shall  uncon- 
sciously imitate  a  thousand,  receiving  impressions  from  all 
the  casual  acquaintances  and  occurrences  of  life,  as 
various  as  the  countenances  of  our  race,  as  multiplied  and 
heterogeneous  as  the  rays  that  fall  from  a  broken  prism ; 
and  from  these  mingled,  momentary,  and  multiplied  in- 
fluences our  moral  and  active  habits  for  time  and  eternity 
will  be  made  up.  Christ  and  Christ  only  must  be  our 
pattern.  Looking  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of 
our  faith,  we  may  detect  and  throw  off*  every  besetting 
evil,  and  with  him  always  before  us,  we  shall  be  in  no 
danger  from  influences  that  would  otherwise  drive  us 
about  like  a  plank  in  the  ocean.  Imitate  him,  and  we  are 
perfectly  safe ;  but  without  him,  all  is  uncertain,  unsafe, 

5* 


106  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

unstable.  The  holiest  men  who  have  gone  before  us,  and 
the  holiest  now  upon  the  scene  of  conflict,  are  all  imper- 
fect, erring,  sinful.  Were  it  allowable,  it  would  not  be 
safe  or  prudent  to  take  even  the  bept  of  them  as  our 
exclusive  guides  in  the  formation  of  our  Christian  charac- 
ter. We  are  liable  to  a  mistaken  judgment  in  regard  to 
many  points  in  their  temper  and  deportment ;  in  the  glow 
of  admiration  their  very  faults  may  be  copied  as  virtues. 

Moreover,  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  Christ's  most 
eminent  followers  may  not  be  capable  of  universal  appli- 
cation. Their  piety,  like  that  of  all  other  men,  was  much 
moulded  by  circumstances,  and  by  the  original  bias  of 
their  moral  and  mental  constitution.  If  we  could  succeed 
in  grafting  it  upon  our  own  lives,  still  it  would  be  a  forced 
growth,  destitute  of  the  freedom  and  vigor  of  a  native 
plant.  All  that  is  good  in  them  we  are  indeed  bound  to 
exhibit,  and  by  it  we  must  be  animated  ;  but  the  religion 
of  the  best  of  men  has  foreign  ingredients  to  weaken  its 
efficacy,  if  not  to  adulterate  its  purity.  What  was  un- 
necessary gloom,  arising  from  peculiarities  of  tempera- 
ment, in  Brainard,  never  can  become  piety  in  us.  What 
was  psychical  despondency  in  the  beloved  Martyr  cannot 
change  its  nature,  though  some  of  us  may  imitate  it  as  an 
excellence  ;  what  was  nervous  depression  or  excitement  in 
Payson  can  never  in  us  become  a  virtue,  or  minister  to 
the  depth,  truth,  and  life  of  our  religious  exercises.  Nor 
19  it  possible  to  imitate  the  excellences  of  these  saints,  by 
making  them  our  model,  and  neglecting  Christ.  As  in 
order  to  cultivate  the  style  of  a  distinguished  author,  if  a 
student  wished  to  do  that,  he  must  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  same  discipline  by  which  the  author's 
powers  were  developed  ;  must  study  the  same  books  and 
be  familiar  with  the  same  minds,  which  nourished  his 
genius  ;  just  so,  if  we  wish  to  possess  and  exhibit  the 
qualities  of  any  eminent  Christian,  whose  character  we 
greatly  admire,  we  must  hourly  and  unceasingly  be 
intimate  with  the  same  Saviour,  who  was  his  example  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  107 

his  support.  Otherwise,  the  exhibition  which  we  make  of 
those  graces  will  be  but  a  mangled  and  miserable  copy  of 
what  at  first  was  only  a  faint  imitation  of  Him  who  knew 
no  sin  ;  in  whom  dwelt  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily, 
but  who  yet  was  made  like  unto  his  brethren,  and  exhibited 
humanity  in  its  noblest  and  most  perfect  form.  No  mere 
reflection  of  his  brightness  should  be  suffered  to  intercept 
our  steadfast  gaze  at  the  great  fountain  of  all  light  and 
life.  It  is  as  if  we  should  darken  our  windows  and  light 
up  a  taper,  when  all  creation  is  glowing  in  the  brilliance 
of  the  noonday  sun. 

Now  this  is  God's  wisdom  and  mercy  for  us.  The 
scheme  of  the  gospel  is  God  in  man,  not  man  reduplicated ; 
it  is  man  formed  on  God,  in  every  case  of  regeneration, 
not  on  man ;  after  God,  not  after  man.  God- ward,  true 
religion  in  man  is  entire  dependence ;  man-ward,  it  is 
entire  independence  and  originality.  Old  things  are 
passed  away,  behold  all  things  are  become  new,  and  all 
things  are  of  God :  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  God  in  Christ  purifying  us  unto  himself,  new 
creating  us  by  his  Spirit,  God  in  Christ  as  our  example, 
bringing  us  into  the  possession  and  reflection  of  his  own 

image. 

By  various  maxims,  forms,  and  rules, 
That  pass  for  wisdom  in  the  schools, 
I  strove  my  passions  to  restrain, 
But  all  my  efforts  proved  in  vain. 
But  since  the  Saviour  I  have  known, 
My  rules  are  all  reduced  to  one ; 
To  keep  my  Lord  by  faith  in  view; — 
This  strength  supplies,  and  motives  too. 

I  see  him  lead  a  suffering  life, 
Patient  amidst  reproach  and  strife ; 
And  from  his  pattern  courage  take, 
To  bear  and  suffer  for  his  sake. 
Upon  the  Cross  I  see  him  bleed, 
And  by  the  sight  from  guilt  am  freed; 
This  sight  destroys  the  life  of  sin, 
And  quickens  heavenly  life  within. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Counterfeit  Bills. — The  religion  of  imitation,  not  experience. — Faith  trembling 
and  self-distrustful,  unbelief  presuming  and  self-confident. 

AMONG  the  exploits  of  faith  enumerated  by  the  Apostle 
Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  we  find  the  crossing 
of  the  Red  Sea  put  down  to  the  credit  of  the  Israelites,  in 
a  striking  contrast  with  the  ineffectual  attempt  of  the 
Egyptians  to  do  the  same.  "  By  faith  they  passed  through 
the  Red  Sea  as  by  dry  land  ;  which  the  Egyptians  assay- 
ing to  do  were  drowned."  This  last  clause  of  the  fate  of 
the  Egyptians  is  not  a  mere  expletive.  It  is  difficult  to 
see  why  the  Apostle  should  bestow  this  notice  upon  the 
Egyptians  buried  in  the  sea,  while  the  people  of  God  had 
gone  triumphantly  over,  unless  there  were  some  additional 
illustrations  of  the  nature  of  faith  to  be  gained  by  such 
contrast.  Accordingly,  as  it  is  an  instance  of  precisely 
the  same  act,  performed  by  believers  and  unbelievers,  with 
results  precisely  and  to  the  uttermost  extreme  opposite, 
it  shows  in  the  strongest  manner  the  comprehensive  and 
decisive  nature  and  operation  of  the  principle  of  faith,  as 
determining  the  character  and  destiny.  The  same  things 
done  in  faith  and  done  without  faith  are  entirely  different. 
Externally,  they  may  be  precisely  the  same  things  in 
every  respect,  and  yet  no  two  things  could  be  more  dis- 
similar. In  the  one  case  they  are  righteousness  and  peace, 
in  the  other  they  are  guilt  and  condemnation  ;  in  the  one 
case  they  are  life,  in  the  other,  death.  This  law  or  princi- 
ple runs  through  the  whole  character  and  exercises  of  our 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  109 

spiritual  being ;  and  it  is  the  nature  of  our  spiritual  being 
which  determines  that  of  our  temporal.  As  a  man  think- 
eth  in  his  heart  towards  God  and  eternity,  so  is  he  in 
reality  towards  man  and  the  things  of  this  world.  If  his 
spiritual  being  is  not  under  the  law  of  faith  and  love,  the 
law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  then  his  whole 
being,  spiritual  and  temporal,  is  under  the  law  of  sin  and 
death.  There  is  nothing  good  in  him,  and  nothing  of  life 
in  him,  if  there  be  not  goodness  and  life  towards  God. 

Now  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  faith  and  unbelief  in 
particular  duties,  let  us  take  that  of  prayer.  The  great 
work  of  faith  is  to  come  to  Christ,  to  rest  on  Christ,  to  be 
acquainted  with  Christ,  to  realize  his  preciousness,  to  have 
the  life  hid  with  him  in  God.  Now  this  communion  of 
the  soul  with  Christ  and  this  life  of  the  soul  in  and  upon 
him,  is  maintained  mainly  by  prayer.  A  man  comes  to 
Christ  by  prayer  in  the  first  instance ;  coming  to  Christ  by 
prayer  may  be  the  very  first  exercise  of  faith ;  faith  indeed 
is  just  a  believing  look  of  the  soul  to  Christ,  and  this  look 
itself  is  prayer.  The  soul  may  begin  the  form  of  prayer 
without  faith,  and  may  continue  the  exercise  of  prayer,  in 
form,  without  faith  ;  and  ordinarily  the  soul,  when  first 
convinced  of  sin,  does  begin  in  this  way ;  begins  prayer 
jgnorantly  and  in  unbelief,  before  it  looks  to  Christ,  and 
rests  on  Christ,  and  finds  Christ,  savingly  and  by  faith. 

The  first  time  a  soul  cries  out  Lord  have  mercy  on  me, 
it  does  not  always  see  Christ.  It  may  use  the  language 
of  one  looking  towards  Christ,  but  at  first  it  is  in  great 
blindness.  Nevertheless,  the  instructions  in  the  gospel 
are  so  plain  on  this  point,  every  soul  is  pointed  so  directly 
to  Christ,  and  all  ministers  and  Christians  and  new  con- 
verts unite  with  such  earnestness  in  urging  the  convicted 
sinner  to  the  Saviour,  that  a  soul  with  the  least  degree  of 
sincerity  cannot  help  endeavoring  to  find  Christ,  cannot 
help  looking  in  that  direction,  however  ignorantly  and 
blindly.  Although  scarcely  knowing  as  yet  what  to  make 
of  Christ,  and  feeling  as  though  it  were  addressing  a  deity 


110  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

in  the  dark,  a  being  of  whose  existence  it  is  hardly  con- 
vinced, or  has  hardly  any  conception,  the  wounded  soul 
nevertheless  cries  out  in  bitterness,  Lord  have  mercy  on 
me !  j 

Now  it  is  ordinarily  while  in  this  attitude,  while  in  the 
repetition  of  these  efforts  after  Christ,  while  endeavoring 
thus,  according  to  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
Word,  to  look  towards  Christ,  that  the  soul  of  the  sinner 
catches  the  first  real,  believing,  understanding  glimpse  of 
Christ.  It  begins  to  find  him  in  prayer,  and  in  most  cases, 
the  discovery  is  very  gradual ;  it  is  not  a  sudden  finding,  a 
burst  of  light  from  heaven,  but  a  light  that  comes  little  by 
little,  often  increasing  like  the  dawn.  With  every  sincere 
effort  of  the  soul  in  prayer  there  is  more  and  more  knowledge 
and  comfort,  more  and  more  spiritual  discernment,  more 
and  more  sight  of  Christ,  and  not  a  mere  feeling  after  him, 
if  haply  the  soul  might  find  him.  Thus  the  soul  becomes 
acquainted  with  him  in  prayer,  learns  the  language  and 
experience  of  the  Christian  in  prayer,  has  the  affections 
drawn  out  after  Christ  in  prayer,  is  educated  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  prayer,  grows  up  into  the  Christian  life  in  prayer, 
becomes  exercised,  drilled,  so  to  speak,  as  a  soldier,  in  the 
Christian  conflict  in  prayer,  passes  the  Red  Sea,  by  faith, 
in  prayer. 

All  this  discipline,  with  some,  is  more  gradual,  with 
others  more  rapid ;  but  ordinarily  it  begins  in  blind  and 
self-despairing  efforts  ;  efforts  in  which  the  soul  experiences 
nothing  but  the  sense  of  sin  and  unbelief,  insensibility  and 
blindness,  and  seems  to  itself,  even  in  the  work  of  prayer, 
to  be  almost  an  atheist,  to  be  praying  without  even  believ- 
ing in  the  being  of  a  God  or  a  Saviour.  It  is  thus  taught 
how  great  a  thing  is  faith,  how  divine  a  gift  of  God  to  the 
soul,  and  how  much  faith  it  needs  simply  to  believe  that 
God  is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder  of  all  who  diligently 
seek  him.  Ordinarily  the  practical  conscious  life  and 
comfort  of  the  soul  in  prayer,  and  the  experience  of  faith  in 
prayer,  and  the  growth  of  the  soul  in  the  sight  and  know- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  Ill 

ledge  of  Christ  in  prayer  are  as  gradual  and  from  as  hidden, 
small,  and  blind  beginnings,  as  the  growth  of  a  plant  from 
the  imperceptible  and  decaying  germ  in  the  earth,  decay- 
ing, yet  quickening,  and  showing  itself  to  sight,  first  the 
little,  delicate,  tender  blade,  then  the  ear,  and  after  that 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  So  the  beginnings  of  Christ  in  the 
soul  grow  out  of  the  decaying  of  self  and  the  quickening 
of  grace,  and  they  show  themselves  and  are  found  out  and 
developed  in  the  exercises  of  the  soul  in  prayer. 

Then  having  thus  found  Christ  in  prayer,  the  soul  con- 
tinues to  commune  with  him  in  prayer,  to  throw  itself 
upon  him  in  prayer,  daily,  to  walk  with  him  by  a  life  of 
faith  in  prayer,  and  to  serve  him  by  prayer,  obedience, 
and  the  watchful  performance  of  duty.  It  does  all  this 
now,  more  and  more,  not  to  find  Christ,  but  as  having 
found  him,  not  to  purchase  anything,  but  out  of  love,  as 
loving  him,  and  being  loved  by  him,  not  to  gain  pardon 
and  heaven,  by  merit,  but  to  obey  Christ  and  to  please 
him,  to  be  made  more;  and  more  like  him,  and  to  be  filled 
more  and  more  with  his  fulness,  in  his  knowledge  and  love. 
This  is  the  life  of  faiih,  entered  into  and  maintained, 
mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of  prayer.  Prayer 
itself  is  a  life. 

But  now,  here  is  another  path,  although  apparently  the 
same  way.  Another  man  attempts  to  come  to  Christ  by 
prayer,  but  without  faith  ;  to  come  to  Christ  and  to  enter 
heaven  by  prayer,  just  as  you  would  expect  to  enter  to  the 
enjoyment  of  a  feast  or  the  exhibition  of  a  great  picture, 
by  having  bought  your  ticket,  and  presented  it  at  trie  door 
of  entrance.  Every  time  such  a  soul  comes  to  prayer,  it 
is  s.o  much  work  done  for  wages  expected.  There  is  no 
humble,  penitent  looking  of  the  soul  to  Christ  in  this  case, 
and  no  sincere  endeavor  to  look  to  him  and  rely  upon  him ; 
and  therefore,  while  this  is  the  attitude  of  the  soul,  there 
can  be  no  sight  of  him,  no  finding  of  him,  no  acquaintance 
with  him.  Christ  is  not  what  the  soul  is  seeking,  in  such 
a  case,  but  safety  ;  not  holiness  and  healing  by  Christ,  but 


112  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

a  policy  of  insurance.  This  is  a  mere  Romish  way  of 
prayer,  as  a  staircase  of  penance,  and  of  observances  in  the 
way  of  merit.  It  is  coming  to  Christ  just  only  as  a  super- 
stitious soul  goes  to  the  priest  with  moi^ey  to  buy  itself  out 
of  purgatory,  or  to  get  a  bill  of  exemption.  This  may  be 
coming  to  prayer,  but  it  is  not  coming  to  Christ  by 
prayer. 

It  is  just  an  attempt  to  gain  heaven  by  works,  by  self- 
righteousness.  The  soul  is  on  entirely  a  wrong  track,  not 
towards  Christ  but  away  from  him,  not  of  repentance  and 
faith,  but  of  pride  and  unbelief.  And  yet  it  may  seem  to 
be  the  same  track  of  prayer.  Nay,  it  might  be  in  the 
very  same  words  of  prayer.  The  self-same  expressions, 
used  by  the  soul  in  the  first  supposed  instance,  as  expres- 
sions of  faith  and  love,  might  be  written  or  printed  in  a 
book,  and  might  be  repeated  and  renewed  by  the  soul  in 
this  second  supposed  instance,  just  as  often  and  with  just 
the  same  assiduity  as  in  the  first ;  and  yet  in  the  second  case 
it  would  be  a  going  away  from  Christ,  while  in  the  first 
case  it  was  a  coming  to  him  ;  in  the  second  case  it  would 
be  a  growing  ignorance  of  Christ,  while  in  the  first  case  it 
was  a  growing  acquaintance  with  him ;  in  the  second  case 
it  would  be  a  course  of  selfishness  and  unbelief,  while  in 
the  first  case  it  was  a  process  of  humility  and  faith  ;  in  the 
second  case  it  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  soul,  while  in  the 
first  case  it  was  its  salvation.  In  the  one  case  it  would  be 
an  attempt  to  be  saved  by  works,  which  would  be  destruc- 
tion ;  in  the  other  an  endeavor  to  be  saved  by  Christ, 
which  would  be  salvation. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  Paul,  when  he  showed  that  the 
believing  Gentiles,  throwing  themselves  on  Christ,  were 
saved  and  became  holy,  when  the  unbelieving  Jews, 
throwing  themselves  on  their  own  merits  in  having  kept 
the  law,  remained  unholy  and  were  lost.  "What  shall 
we  say  then  ?  That  the  Gentiles,  which  followed  not  after 
righteousness,  have  attained  to  righteousness,  even  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  faith.  But  Israel,  which  followed 


CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS.  113 

after  the  law  of  righteousness,  hath  not  attained  to  the  law 
of  righteousness.  Wherefore  ?  Because,  they  sought  it 
not  by  faith,  but  as  it  were  by  the  works  of  the  law.  For 
they  stumbled  at  that  stumbling-stone  in  Zion."  Even  so, 
a  man  following  righteousness  to  get  Christ,  makes  right- 
eousness his  Saviour,  and  rejects  Christ,  throwing  himself 
on  his  own  righteousness,  which  in  such  a  case  is  miserable 
pride,  in  unbelief,  ignorance,  and  sin,  not  accepting  Christ. 
But  a  man  following  Christ  without  righteousness,  but  to 
get  righteousness  in  Christ,  confesses  and  feels  his  own 
utter  guilt  and  vileness,  and  throws  himself  on  Christ 
alone,  to  be  saved  by  grace,  by  faith,  the  mere,  free,  rich, 
sovereign,  and  undeserved  gift  of  God's  love. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  doing  of  precisely  the  same  things 
may  lead  in  the  one  case  to  Christ,  in  the  other  away  from 
him ;  may  be  in  the  one  case  piety,  in  the  other  sin  ;  may 
lead  in  the  one  case  to  heaven,  in  the  other  down  to  hell. 
Precisely  the  same  things  !  The  same  steps  taken,  the 
same  words  uttered,  in  the  same  number  of  times,  with  the 
same  observances,  and  the  same  labor  and  care,  may  be 
salvation  in  the  one  case,  and  ruin  in  the  other.  Because, 
in  true  religion  all  is  faith,  and  all  depends  on  the  state  of 
the  soul,  and  prayer  is  not  prayer,  which  is  offered  as 
purchase  money,  or  maintained  as  merit  and  hire,  and 
because  there  must  be  love,  or  there  is  neither  holiness 
nor  heaven. 

So  it  is,  that  precisely  the  same  way  may  be  taken  to 
cross  the  Red  Sea,  but  in  the  one  case  it  will  be  death, 
though  in  the  other  it  was  life.  It  may  be  apparently  by 
the  same  stepping-stones,  and  the  proud  chariot  wheels  of 
the  Egyptians  may  run  in  exactly  the  same  tracks  on  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  with  the  rude  carts  of  the  Israelites  ; 
but  there  is  all  the  difference  that  there  is  between  salva- 
tion and  perdition,  between  holiness  and  sin.  And  yet, 
precisely  the  same  way !  It  may  be  as  precisely  the  same, 
as  the  words  of  prayer  repeated  from  a  prayer-book,  and 
the  same  words  uttered  from  the  heart ;  which  in  the  first 


114  GRACE  AND  TRUTH, 

case  might  be  the  labor  of  an  unbelieving  hireling,  or  even 
the  sport  and  mockery  of  a  scoffing  fool,  but  in  the  last, 
the  humility  and  penitence  of  a  sincere  Christian.  So 
great  is  the  difference  between  the  prayer  of  faith  and 
prayer  without  faith,  or  prayer  rolled  over  like  the  beads 
of  a  Pagan,  or  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  Egyptians.  And 
as  they  are  heaven-wide  different  in  themselves,  so  in  their 
results.  The  same  sea  that  prayer  and  faith  keep  open, 
self-merit  and  self-complacency  bring  down  in  great 
drowning  billows  on  the  soul.  This  sea  of  guilt  and  con- 
demnation, through  which  a  man  must  pass  to  Christ, 
must  be  crossed  by  faith,  can  be  crossed  in  no  other  way  ; 
and  God  only  can  open  it,  can  keep  back  its  billows  from 
drowning  the  soul.  True  faith  is  small  at  first,  and 
trembles  and  is  afraid,  but  at  length  is  encouraged  by 
God's  Word,  and  from  one  step  is  led  on  to  another  in 
safety,  humbly  casting  all  on  Christ.  So  the  sea  is  crossed, 
and  the  soul  stands  on  the  other  side,  and  looks  back  in 
wonder,  gratitude,  and  joy,  and  can  hardly  yet  believe  its 
own  experience.  But  it  has  found  Christ  in  prayer,  and 
knows  how  to  rest  upon  him. 

Pride  and  unbelief,  on  the  other  hand,  tread  at  first  very 
confidently  ;  they  are  as  haughty  and  speedy  as  the  Egyp- 
tians ;  they  say,  We  will  make  the  same  passage,  we  will 
be  saved  by  doing  so  and  so ;  but  down  comes  the  sea ;  it 
is  only  faith  that  finds  in  prayer  the  way  to  Christ.  And 
Christ  and  his  gospel  to  the  believing  soul  are  a  savor  of 
life,  but  to  the  unbelieving  soul  only  of  condemnation  and 
death.  It  is  not  the  steps  that  a  believer  takes  that  save 
him,  but  it  is  Christ  that  saves  him,  and  if  he  does  not 
look  to  Christ,  the  very  same  steps  will  but  destroy  him. 
The  Egyptians  do  not  see  who  opens  the  way,  who  holds 
back  the  billows  ;  they  think  if  they  take  the  same  steps, 
that  the  route  will  carry  them  also  safely,  the  path  will 
save  them.  So  they  rush  on  confidently,  but  it  is  only 
to  be  choked  in  the  waters.  So  unbelief  will,  as  it  were, 
take  heaven  by  storm  ;  a  storm  of  duties,  merits,  observ- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  115 

ances  ;  and  it  rushes  on,  but  soon  finds  itself  buffeting  the 
tempest,  sinking  like  a  stone,  the  waters  too  deep  to  be 
forded.  Unbelief,  setting  out  to  be  its  own  saviour,  destroys 
all  possibility  of  salvation,  and  encounters  destruction. 
Faith,  in  self-despair,  trusting  all  to  Christ,  finds  strength 
and  security.  Unbelief,  exalting  self,  and  keeping  that 
alone  in  view,  falls  into  the  arms  of  Satan ;  while  faith, 
abasing  and  excluding  self,  falls  into  the  arms  of  the 
Redeemer.  Unbelief  seeks  its  own  life,  and  finds  death ; 
while  faith,  entering  on  the  death  of  self,  finds  life  eternal. 
A  great  and  learned  man  once  labelled  a  volume  of 
Socinian  Tracts  in  his  library  with  this  inscription : 
"  Salvation  made  easy,  or  every  man  his  own  Redeemer." 
It  was  a  good  satire  ;  but  the  true  title  would  be,  Salvation 
made  impossible,  and  every  man  his  own  destroyer.  This 
mistake  of  self-salvation  comes  from  ignorance  and  un- 
belief of  self-ruin  ;  for  no  man  ever  dreams  of-  saving  him- 
self who  is  made  truly  sensible  that  he  has  ruined  himself. 
Real  conviction  of  sin  must  either  lead  to  despair  or  to 
Christ,  and  certainly  to  despair  if  not  to  Christ.  And 
that  self-salvation  which  seemed  easy  at  first  without  con- 
viction of  sin,  only  plunges  the  soul  into  the  depths  of 
misery.  A  man  who  goes  info  despair  now  because  of 
conviction,  may  come  to  Christ  afterwards  ;  his  very  des- 
pair may  drive  him  to  Christ ;  just  as  the  Israelites,  shut 
up  in  utter  hopelessness  at  the  Red  Sea,  were  compelled  to 
throw  themselves  on  God.  But  a  man  full  of  self -confi- 
dence now,  for 'Want  of  conviction,  is  sure  to  come  to 
despair  in  the  end.  So  let  a  man  try  to  ride  in  the  chariot 
of  his  own  works,  prayers,  goodness,  amiableness,  upright- 
ness, into  heaven,  or  over  the  Red  Sea  of  his  guilt ;  he 
may  set  out  with  great  expectations,  and  may  have  an 
army  with  him ;  but  God  speedily  takes  off  his  chariot 
wheels,  and  he  drives  heavily,  and  then  what  he  trusted  in 
for  support  and  safety  xmly  entangles  him  and  sinks  him, 
when  God  lets  loose  the  billows.  His  armor  and  his  har- 


116  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

ness  carry  him  down  like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters.  His 
self-righteousness  is  even  worse  for  him  than  his  sins.  His 
sins  might  bring  him  to  Christ,  if  he  felt  them ;  but  his 
self-righteousness  is  the  very  blind  of  ^Batan  over  his  soul ; 
it  keeps  him  from  seeing  either  his  sins  or  his  Saviour. 
His  faith  in  self  makes  him  an  unbeliever  at  once  in  sin, 
in  Christ,  and  in  Satan  ;  he  thinks  he  has  no  sin  but  what 
he  can  cure  by  his  own  reformation ;  he  thinks  he  needs 
no  Saviour  but  that  cure  ;  and  he  thinks,  consequently, 
that  for  him  there  is  neither  devil  nor  hell.  If  he  believed 
heartily,  truly,  experimentally,  either  in  sin,  or  Satan,  or 
Christ,  he  would  renounce  self,  and  hold  to  Christ  only  ; 
but  believing  in  self,  there  is  nothing  else  in  which  he  can 
or  will  believe,  except  as  a  part  of  self,  or  auxiliary  to  it. 
Yea,  the  indictment  in  Isaiah  may  be  taken  up  and  issued 
against  him.  Thou  hast  trusted  in  thy  wickedness ;  thou 
hast  said,  None  seeth  me.  Thy  wisdom  and  thy  know- 
ledge, it  hath  perverted  thee  ;  and  thou  hast  said  in  thy 
heart,  I  am,  and  none  else  beside  me.  Thou  settest  thy- 
self as  the  egotist  and  idol  of  the  universe,  thine  own  only 
object  of  belief  and  adoration.  Therefore  shall  evil  come 
upon  thee  ;  thou  shalt  not  know  from  whence  it  riseth ; 
and  mischief  shall  fall  upon  thee  ;  thou  shalt  not  be  able  to 
put  it  off ;  and  desolation  shall  come  upon  thee  suddenly, 
which  thou  shalt  not  know.  Stand  now,  with  thine 
enchantments,  thou  god  of  thine  own  creation,  and  with 
the  multitude  of  thy  sorceries,  wherewith  thou  hast 
labored  from  thy  youth  ;  if  so  be  thou  shalt  be  able  to 
profit,  if  so  be  thou  mayest  prevail.  Thou  art  wearied  in 
the  multitude  of  thy  counsels.  Let  now  the  astrologers, 
the  star-gazers,  the  monthly  prognostic ators  of  thy  divinity, 
the  calculators  and  vouchers  for  the  horoscope  of  thy  self- 
righteous  theology,  stand  up  and  save  thee  from  these 
things  that  shall  come  upon  thee.  Behold  they  shall  be  as 
stubble ;  the  fire  shall  burn  them  ;  they  shall  not  deliver 
themselves  from  this  power  of  the  flame.  Thus  shall  they 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  117 

be  unto  thee,  with  whom  thou  hast  labored ;  thy  merchants 
from  thy  youth  in  the  wares  of  thy  flattery,  thy  self- 
delusion  ;  none  shall  save  thee.  Moreover,  because  ye 
have  said  we  have  made  a  covenant  with  death,  and  with 
hell  are  we  at  agreement,  your  covenant  with  death  shall 
be  disannulled,  and  your  agreement  with  hell  shall  not 
stand.  For  the  bed  is  shorter  than  that  a  man  can  stretch 
himself  upon  it,  and  the  covering  narrower  than  he  can 
wrap  himself  in  it.  Vast  as  the  robe  of  a  man's  self- 
righteousness  may  be,  it  was  never  yet  large  enough  to 
cover  the  sinful  soul. 

So  then,  there  is  no  agreement  that  can  stand,  but  an 
agreement  with  God  for  Christ's  sake.  Salvation  is 
wholly  of  Christ,  by  faith,  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of 
him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  showeth  mercy.  The 
race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong,  but  to 
the  contrite  soul  that  trembleth  at  God's  Word,  and  out  of 
weakness  is  made  strong.  If  thou  standest  at  the  Red 
Sea,  and  thinkest  that  thou  wilt  cross  in  thine  own  chariot, 
thou  art  an  Egyptian,  and  the  waters  will  cover  thee.  If 
thou  hast  no  fear,  it  is  because  of  thine  ignorance.  There 
are  many  things  that  unbelief  does  not  tremble  at,  and 
that  do  not  stagger  the  man  of  sense,  but  at  which  faith 
trembles,  knowing  the  difficulties  and  dangers.  Unbelief 
resorts  to  sense  for  encouragement,  but  faith  to  Christ. 
Sense  is  always  visible,  but  Christ  is  not.  Sense  is  a 
beast  that  starts  fair,  but  throws  its  rider,  or  founders  in 
the  Slough  of  Despond,  and  is  lost  in  the  blackness  of 
darkness.  Faith  seems  to  sense  to  be  walking  in  darkness, 
but  issues  in  everlasting  light.  The  very  essence  of  faith 
is  to  walk  by  things  unseen.  Faith  regards  an  unseen 
Saviour,  and  this  is  the  very  trial  of  the  soul.  Art  thou 
ready,  God  says,  and  willing,  to  quit  self  and  sense,  and 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross  cry  for  mercy  and  trust  for  mercy, 
as  a  lost  sinner  ?  Wilt  thou  make  application  to  Christ, 
wilt  thou  trust  in  him,  wilt  thou  rest  upon  him,  simply  as 


118  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

thou  findest  him  revealed  in  God's  Word  ?  That  is  the 
very  first  exercise  of  faith,  such  a  belief  in  an  unseen 
Saviour  as  makes  you  apply  to  him  for  mercy  ;  this  done, 
there  follows  more,  there  springs  up  ai^  experience,  out  of 
which  thenceforward  springs  a  greater  faith.  "  Whom, 
having  not  seen,  ye  love  ;  in  whom,  though  now  ye  see 
him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice,  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory."  It  is  in  this  sense  that  faith  is  described 
as  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen.  The  moment  faith  is  exercised,  then  there  is  an 
experimental  demonstration  to  the  soul,  a  manifestation  to 
faith  of  that  Saviour  and  those  realities,  which  sense  can- 
not see.  Then  arise  love,  joy,  peace,  all  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit ;  but  they  all  wait  for  faith  ;  they  wait  till  the  soul 
rests  on  Christ,  and  if  the  soul  waits  for  them,  as  a  sort  of 
sensible  encouragement  to  come  to  Christ,  it  will  wait  in 
vain,  it  will  never  come  to  him.  The  soul's  encourage- 
ment to  come  to  Christ  is  in  its  own  ruin  out  of  Christ, 
its  utter  guilt  and  misery,  and  not  in  any  fancied  grace 
that  it  will  have  before  it  comes  to  him,  as  a  sort  of 
swimming-belt  on  which  to  venture  to  him.  No  !  all  the 
grace  it  wants  before  coming  to  him  is  that  of  faith  in  its 
own  guilt  and  ruin ;  that  is  the  only  faith  in  self  to  be 
allowed,  to  be  tolerated  for  a  moment.  We  come  to 
Christ  out  of  self-ruin.  Lord,  save  me,  I  perish.  Nay. 
we  come  to  Christ  out  of  the  death  of  self,  and  when  self 
is  weakest,  then  faith  is  strongest,  and  in  proportion  as 
self  is  lost  sight  of,  Christ  becomes  visible,  Christ  rises  on 
the  soul,  as  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  and  floods  the  soul 
at  length  with  his  light,  and  takes  possession  of  the  soul 
for  ever  and  ever. 

What  am  I? 

A  poor  sinner ! 

Lord,  my  life  is  waste  and  wanted. 

THOU  must  be  the  sole  beginner 

Of  that  mighty  death  to  self, 

In  which  Life  again  is  planted. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  119 

Then  shall  I, 
A  poor  sinner, 

•  Like  the  plant  from  dying  kernel, 
Rise  with  Thee,  my  Life's  beginner, 
Find  in  Thee  my  second  self, 
Reign  with  Thee  in  Life  Eternal. 

This  is  the  language  of  an  humble,  contrite,  believing 
heart.  Self-confidence  is  all  gone,  a  simple  reliance  on 
Christ  and  humble  love  to  him  have  taken  the  place  of 
everything  else  in  the  soul.  How  beautifully  the  Poet 
Cowper  describes  the  happy  change  in  one  of  his  un- 
affected, child-like  hymns ! 

No  strength  of  nature  can  suffice 

To  serve  the  Lord  aright ; 
And  what  she  has,  she  misapplies, 

For  want  of  clearer  light. 

How  long  beneath  the  law  I  lay 

In  bondage  and  distress ; 
I  toiled  the  precept  to  obey, 

But  toiled  without  success. 

Then,  to  abstain  from  outward  sin 

Was  more  than  I  could  do, 
Now,  if  I  feel  its  power  within, 

I  feel  I  hate  it  too. 

Then,  all  my  servile  works  were  done 

A  righteousness  to  raise ; 
Now,  freely  chosen  in  the  Son, 

1  freely  choose  his  ways. 

"  What  shall  I  do,"  was  then  the  word, 
•  "  That  I  may  worthier  grow  ?" 
What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  ? 
Is  my  inquiry  now. 

To  see  the  Law  by  Christ  fulfilled, 

And  hear  his  pardoning  voice, 
Changes  a  slave  into  a  child, 

And  duty  into  choice. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Counterfeit  Bills  continued. — Formalism  and  Faith,  Pride  and  Contrition  in 
contrast. — The  power  of  the  element  of  self-despair. 

THE  parables  and  narratives  of  Christ  are  wonderful  things 
in  their  many-sided  reflections  and  emanations  of  the  light. 
The  sunbeams  fall  in  shafts  of  beauty  and  power  through 
both  characters  and  facts,  illustrating  Divine  Truth,  and 
making  it  live  before  us.  Spiritual  abstractions  come 
forth  in  definite  form  and  outline  ;  the  different  graces  of 
the  Spirit  are  seen  in  action  ;  the  feelings  of  the  heart  and 
moods  of  opinion  and  habits  of  life  in  whole  classes  receive 
a  realization  through  the  portraits  of  individuals. 

The  Divine  sketches  of  the  Pharisee  and  Publican  at 
their  devotions,  each  in  his  own  way,  are  worth  whole 
volumes  of  dissertations  on  the  workings  and  evidences  of 
a  contrite  spirit,  and  the  essence  of  justifying  faith  and 
acceptable  prayer.  Of  the  Pharisee  it  is  said,  He  stood 
and  prayed  thus  with  himself.  It  is  not  lightly  that  this 
description  has  been  chosen.  He  stood  and  prayed  thus 
with  himself !  Aye,  and  himself  only  !  There  was  the 
name  of  God,  but  no  god  but  self  in  the  prayer.  Two 
men  went  up  to  the  Temple  to  pray.  "Two  went  to 
pray  ?"  asked  the  Poet  Crashaw  ; 

Two  went  to  pray  ?    O  rather  say 
One  went  to  brag,  the  other  to  pray ; 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  121 

One  stands  up  close,  and  treads  on  high, 
Where  the  other  dares  not  lift  his  eye: 

One  nearer  to  God's  altar  trod, 
The  other  to  the  altar's  GOD. 

Altar  prayers  are  common,  and  we  have  heard  of  prayers 
offered  to  an  audience,  the  most  eloquent  prayers  ever 
addressed  to  an  enlightened  audience.  There  have  been 
such  things  reported.  But  here  is  a  man  praying  to  him- 
self !  To  pray  to  an  altar,  or  an  audience,  instead  of  God, 
is  a  singular  and  obstinate  superstition.  But  then,  how 
strange,  how  ridiculous,  in  secret  to  pray  to  oneself,  pre- 
tending to  pray  to  God !  ^t  is  difficult  to  say  which  would 
be  worse ;  it  is  not  difficult  to  say  which  is  most  common. 
God,  I  thank  thee  !  Divine  human  nature,  I  thank  thee  ! 
Self-respect  and  dignity  of  my  soul,  I  thank  thee  !  The 
god  he  was  addressing  was  as  much  the  god  of  his  own 
fancy,  as  if  it  had  been  a  stamped  wax  wafer  held  before  him. 
It  was  a  thing  that  had  grown  up  and  been  formed  among 
the  corruptions  of  his  own  heart ;  no  better  than  the  idols, 
which  in  times  of  old  they  stole  from  one  another,  and  hid 
among  their  household  stuffs,  and  sat  upon  them.  It  was  a 
conception  of  his  own,  a  self-flattering  deity,  down  among 
his  own  thoughts,  that  he  prayed  with,  communed  with  ; 
dignifying  it  with  the  mere  intellectual  idea  of  God, 
gathered  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  revealed  in  the 
state-religion  of  his  country. 

Now  for  one  prayer  addressed  to  an  audience,  there  are 
probably  very  many  addressed  thus  to  self.  This  is  as 
common,  to  say  the  least,  as  the  character  of  a  Pharisee ; 
and  we  are  all  Pharisees,  unless  we  are  Publicans.  Indeed, 
if  we,  be  even  sincere  Christians,  and  yet  have  our  hearts 
wandering  upon  other  things,  while  we-seem  to  be  address- 
ing God,  what  is  that  but  praying  with  oneself  ?  But  that 
is  not  what  is  here  meant ;  not  the  mere  wandering  of  the 
thoughts  from  God  in  the  midst  of  prayer,  but  the  prayer 

6 


122  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

of  self-deception,  pride,  self-complacency,  and  hypocrisy. 
He  stood  and  prayed  thus  with  himself :  "  God,  I  thank 
thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are."  How  did  he  know 
what  other  men  were  ?  His  own  outside,  and  the  outside 
of  other  men,  was  all  he  was  thinking  of.  And  he  thought 
God  would  be  deceived  by  the  mockery  of  such  a  com- 
parison. He  was  deceiving  himself,  and  who  in  the 
universe  should  have  a  keener  discernment  than  he ! 

Not  as  other  men  are,  nor  even  as  this  Publican !  This 
is  not  a  rare  spirit.  "Well,  I  thank  God,  let  my  follies  be 
what  they  may,  I  am  not  such  a  fool  as  these  Methodists. 
I  can  at  least  be  decent  in  my  religion.  I  have  sense 
enough  to  prefer  a  good  prayer  To  illiterate  mysticism  and 
groans."  And  then  there  is  another  form  of  thanksgiving 
that  some  might  think  right  the  reverse  of  the  Pharisee's, 
but  which  is  just  the  same  thing :  "  Well,  I  thank  God, 
let  my  follies  be  what  they  may,  I  am  no  hypocrite  ;  I 
don't  make  a  profession  of  religion  and  then  go  away  and 
cheat  my  neighbors.'"'  No,  but  you  can  cheat  them  with- 
out any  profession,  and  you  would  do  it,  with  a  strong 
enough  temptation,  if  left  of  God.  Yea,  perhaps  you  are 
eating  up  the  sins  of  God's  people,  and  crying  out  at  the 
same  time,  I  thank  God  this  is  not  my  food.  This  liturgy 
of  the  Pharisees  has  a  great  many  forms.  It  wras  much 
longer  than  that  of  the  poor  Publican. 

God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men,  nor 
even  as  this  Publican.  I  do  not  come  up  to  the  temple  to 
pray,  without  having  performed  the  other  duties  of  religion. 
I  fast  twice  in  the  week,  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  possess. 
I  stick  fast  to  the  traditions  of  the  elders.  I  build  the 
tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the 
righteous.  I  pay  tithe  of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin.  I 
never  eat  bread  without  washing  my  hands.  I  make 
broad  my  phylacteries,  and  enlarge  the  borders  of  my  gar- 
ments.  My  fellow-men  respect  me,  and  call  me  Rabbi, 
and  give  me  the  uppermost  rooms  at  feasts,  and  the  chief 
seats  in  the  synagogues.  God,  I  thank  thee  for  all  this. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  123 

My  heart  overflows  with  gratitude.  What  a  blessing  that 
I  am  not  as  other  men,  as  this  Publican ! 

See  now  the  writing  that  comes  out  upon  the  wall  in 
answer  to  all  this ;  hear  now  the  inaudible  voice  in  the 
Temple  from  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites,  whited  sepulchres,  graves  that 
appear  not,  and  men  walk  over  them,  not  in  the  least 
aware  of  the  rottenness  that  festers  beneath.  Woe  unto 
you,  righteous  outwardly,  but  within  full  of  hypocrisy  and 
iniquity.  Woe  unto  you,  paying  tithes  of  mint  and  rue 
and  all  manner  of  herbs,  but  trampling  upon  justice, 
mercy,  and  faith  ;  making  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup 
and  platter,  but  your  inward  part  is  full  of  ravening  and 
wickedness.  Woe  unto  you,  with  your  uppermost  seats 
and  greetings  and  prayers  !  for  which  ye  shall  receive  the 
greater  damnation.  And  for  you  all,  except  your  righteous- 
ness shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Such  is  the  sum  of  this  man's  prayers,  the  end  of  this 
man's  righteousness.  He  returned  to  his  house  with  a 
proud  and  rotten  heart,  a  man  of  a  class  ;  condemned  by 
their  very  prayers,  and  abandoned  as  reprobate  by  Christ 
himself,  in  the  most  burning  and  tremendous  denunciations 
ever  uttered. 

Now  turn  to  the  other,  the  poor,  trembling,  self-despair- 
ing Publican.  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  !  There 
is  nothing  of  self  here  but  self-despair.  This  man  is  not 
praying  with  himself,  nor  to  himself,  counting  over  the 
roll  of  his  observances,  his  tithes,  his  fastings,  the  coats 
of  paint  and  gilding  over  the  rotten  sepulchre  of  his  heart. 
This  man  prays  to  God,  out  of  the  depths  of  guilt  and 
misery ;  his  soul  can  do  nothing  but  groan  after  God. 
For  thy  name's  sake  pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great. 
And  so  was  his  prayer  great ;  a  great  prayer,  though  in 
but  half  a  dozen  words.  It  was  prayer  to  God,  from  the 


124  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

depths  of  a  penitent  heart,  and  he  went  down  to  his  house 
justified,  rather  than  the  other. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  not  justified  by  his  prayer,  nor 
saved  by  his  prayer.  He  did  not  hinpself  expect  to  be. 
He  did  not  come  up  to  the  temple  for  that,  purpose,  but 
just  to  confess  his  sins,  and  throw  himself  on  God's 
mercy.  He  was  justified  and  saved  only  by  God's  mercy, 
not  by  his  own  prayer,  nor  his  own  repentance.  He  could 
not  have  been  justified  and  saved  without  repentance,  but 
he  was  not  saved  by  it.  Just  as  the  lepers  could  not  have 
been  cleansed  without  going  to  the  priests,  but  were  not 
saved  by  going,  but  by  Christ ;  and  just  as  Paul's  ship  and 
company  could  not  have  been  saved  without  the  soldiers 
abiding  in  it,  but  yet  were  not  saved  by  that,  but  by  God's 
mercy;  just  so  this  poor  Publican  could  not  have  been 
saved  without  that  broken-hearted  prayer,  without  that 
contrition  of  soul  which  impelled  the  prayer,  but  yet  he 
was  not  justified  and  saved  by  that,  but  by  Christ'  only. 
His  humility  was  excellent,  his  contrition  excellent,  his 
prayer  excellent,  but  he  never  dreamed  of  that,  and  it  was 
nothing  of  that  that  saved  him,  but  only  Christ.  And  if 
he  had  dreamed  of  that,  if  he  had  worked  himself  up  into 
this  groaning  after  God,  to  bring  that  frame  into  the  temple 
as  a  ground  of  justification,  it  would  have  spoiled  the  whole. 
His  prayer  would  have  been  no  whit  better  than  the 
Pharisee's.  He  would  have  stood  and  prayed  with  him- 
self, just  like  the  Pharisee,  God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  have 
such  excellent  prayers  to  bring  thee,  and  not  the  poor 
miserable  formalism  and  heartless  tithe-gatherings  of  this 
Pharisee.  There  are  such  dealings  of  pride,  sometimes, 
even  with  groans  and  prayers,  such  merchandise  made  of 
tears  and  importunities,  by  which  deluded  souls  think  to 
merit  heaven.  And  the  mistake  sometimes  is  not  dis- 
covered even  by  souls  truly  convinced  of  sin,  till  after 
much  struggling  in  the  mire  of  their  own  guilt  and  misery. 

Now  this  picture  of  these  two  persons  going  up  to  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  125 

temple  to  pray  shows  us  in  the  first  place  our  complete 
misery,  ignorance,  blindness,  and  helplessness  in  ourselves. 
Self-despair  is  a  great  grace;  and  a  great  and  blessed 
discipline  it  is,  cost  what  it  may,  that  brings  a  man  to  it. 
Self-despair  is  the  first  ^tep  in  the  ladder  of  faith  and  grace 
in  Christ  Jesus,  whose  top  reaches  to  heaven.  But  oh, 
what  a  discipline  of  buffeting  and  inward  suffering  and 
misery  it  sometimes  costs  to  bring  a  man  to  this  step. 
Yea,  most  men  are  very  far  from  this  first  step  ;  wandering 
over  the  earth,  not  like  Jacob,  sleeping  with  stones  for 
their  pillows  and  dreaming  of  heaven,  but  wide  awake  in 
all  the  heedlessness  of  self-confidence ;  planning  for  self, 
living  for  self,  cultivating  self,  refining  self,  polishing  self, 
burning  incense  to  self,  cajoling  self,  worshipping  self, 
puffing  up  self  with  pride,  blinding  self,  deceiving  self, 
seeking  self,  raising  self,  by  self,  to  heaven,  and  thus  ex- 
cluding self  from  heaven,  and  making  nothing  certain  for 
self  but  self,  which  really  is  nothing  but  hell.  The  Pharisee 
goes  up  to  the  temple,  and  up  to  heaven,  as  he  thinks,  by 
self;  but  it  is  his  way  down  to  hell.  The  poor  publican 
goes  down  to  hell,  as  he  thinks,  by  self,  and  he  really  sees 
and  feels  the  intolerable  corruptions  of  his  nature  so 
deeply,  so  truly,  so  self-despairingly,  that  he  seems  in  the 
abyss  of  woe  ;  but  it  is  his  way  up  to  heaven  ;  for  he  that 
exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased,  while  he  that  humbleth 
himself  shall  be  exalted.  The  Pharisee,  by  the  discipline 
of  self,  is  full  of  self-pride ;  the  publican,  by  the  discipline 
of  self  under  grace,  is  full  of  despair ;  the  publican  has 
his  foot  on  the  first  round  of  the  ladder  that  lifts  him  out 
of  self  and  hell  into  Christ  and  heaven  ;  the  Pharisee  is 
clean  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  going  down  to  Satan. 

This  picture  shows  us  again  the  great  danger  of  a 
counterfeit  piety.  The  very  duties  of  religion,  if  self  be 
the  soul  of  them,  are  nothing  but  guilt ;  they  are  the  wolf 
in  sheep's  clothing ;  nay,  they  are  the  wolf  dressed  up  like 
a  proud  lion.  Where  there  is  faith,  there  is  humility  ;  but 
where  there  is  not  faith,  there  is  nothing  but  pride  and 


126  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

self-deceit.  Therefore,  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin. 
Now  this  counterfeit  is  easily  made.  It  costs  indeed  much 
labor,  and  is  made  with  a  very  sincere  desire  and  determina- 
tion to  have  it  available.  And  it  may  seejn  hard  that  it  should 
not  be  available,  that  it  should  be  So  severely  rejected  and 
penaltied.  But  consider  that  it  is  of  base  material ;  and 
what  would  become  of  the  circulating  medium  of  heaven, 
if  this  false,  vile,  spurious  coin  of  self,  with  heaven's 
forgery,  should  get  prevalent  ?  Moreover,  whose  fault, 
whose  will,  whose  obstinacy  is  the  self-deceit  and  the 
counterfeit  ?  It  is  the  soul's  own,  against  God's  instruc- 
tions, God's  warnings.  It  is  just  because  the  soul  will 
not  give  up  self  to  God,  that  the  counterfeit  imposes  on  it. 
A  soul  that  chooses  God,  Christ,  and  heaven's  will,  instead 
of  self,  will  hate  the  counterfeit,  will  loathe  the  production 
of  self;  if  that  coinage  gets  into  the  Christian's  purse,  it 
will  burn  in  it  like  fire,  it  will  create  misery,  it  will  make 
him  hate  it. 

And  if  a  soul  is  so  blind,  that  it  cannot  discern  between 
self  and  Christ,  between  prayer  manufactured  as  a  ticket 
of  entrance  to  heaven,  and  prayer  which  is  just  the 
humble  confession  of  sin,  the  expression  of  a  penitent 
reliance  on  Christ,  and  the  breathing  of  an  humble  soul 
after  him,  where  does  this  blindness  come  from  ?  Why, 
from  the  adoration  of  self,  from  the  utter  disregard  of  God 
and  supreme  regard  to  self,  from  the  love  of  sin  and  the 
disrelish  of  holiness.  Can  God  accept  the  counterfeit 
money  that  such  a  soul  receives  and  passes  ?  Admit  that 
it  be  coined  with  groans  and  tears,  that  it  be  not  the  mere 
going  up  to  the  temple,  and  reading  over  the  catalogue  of 
one's  duties  ;  that  it  be  self-penance  and  cryings  out  for 
mercy ;  yet  if  there  be  no  faith,  what  can  be  done  with  it  ? 
What  is  it  worth  ?  The  ground  may  with  great  labor 
have  brought  forth  nettles,  but  for  what  are  they  good,  but 
to  be  burned  ?  The  monks  of  a  superstitious  creed  may 
have  spent  days  and  nights  in  groanings  and  scourgings; 
but  the  character  is  not  a  whit  altered.  After  a  night's 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  127 

sleepless  watchings  and  sacrificings,  can  the  counterfeit 
coin  be  any  the  more  worth  acceptance  ? 

Counterfeit  money  always  costs  labor.  Some  gangs  of 
counterfeiters  labor  harder  on  the  productions  of  their 
base  coinage,  than  the  most  industrious  men  for  the  good 
of  society.  And  they  always  have  a  mixture  of  good 
metal.  But  all  the  great  cost,  pains,  toil,  self-denial,  labor, 
and  danger  they  have  undergone  cannot  shield  them  from 
the  penalty,  nor  make  the  coin  go.  If  the  die  be  not  that 
of  the  government,  it  must  be  condemned.  And  so,  if 
prayers  and  tears  and  labors  after  heaven  have  not  Christ's 
signature,  the  bills  are  forged,  and  must  be  condemned. 
And  this  the  more  severely,  because  Christ  always  stood 
ready  to  give  his  signature,  had  it  been  asked ;  had  the 
bills  been  given,  up  to  him,  to  do  with  them  as  he  pleased, 
and  not  used  for  self  without  regard  to  him,  they  should 
have  been  accepted.  He  would  have  put  his  own  name 
on  the  back  of  them,  and  so  made  them  good,  even  though 
before  they  were  worthless.  The  very  act  of  bringing 
them  to  him  would  have  legalized  them.  But  as  self- 
possessions,  self-complacencies,  and  self-riches,  they  are 
forgeries  and  vile. 

We  see,  then,  our  entire  dependence  upon  Christ.  It  is 
this  which  self-despair  teaches.  In  ourselves  how  blind, 
ignorant,  proud,  deluded,  self-seeking,  helpless,  hopeless. 
At  every  point  turned  away  from  God,  and  unlike  him ; 
dependent  on  him  for  grace  to  see  Christ,  even  when 
Christ  is  directly  before  us.  And  even  when  convinced 
of  sin,  and  anxious  after  heaven,  still  so  blinded  by  selfish- 
ness, that  we  think  we  will  gain  heaven  by  praying,  labor- 
ing, scourging,  mourning,  anything,  everything,  rather  than 
letting  all  things  go  in  self-despair,  trusting  to  Christ ; 
blinded  thus  until  God  opens  our  eyes.  What  wretched, 
lost,  utterly  miserable  sinners ! 

Do  we  exaggerate  in  all  this  ?  God  forbid.  It  is  not 
possible.  And  the  worst  of  all  is,  that  we  do  not  see  nor 
feel  this  misery.  But  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  we  march  up 


128  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

to  the  temple  with  the  Pharisee,  and  though  we  have 
nothing  but  groans,  and  forced  confessions  of  guilt 
misery  to  bring  with  us,  yet  even  out  of  these  we  extract 
the  plea  of  self-confidence  and  self-yighteousness.  We 
pray  thus  with  ourselves,  God,  I  thank  thee.that  I  can  at 
least  bring  sorrowful  penance  and  good  desires,  and  am 
thus  on  the  way  back  from  my  sins,  the  way  of  salvation. 
Certainly,  God,  thou  wilt  have  mercy  on  me  after  such 
long  groaning  and  praying.  What  perpetuated,  insidious, 
insinuating,  hidden,  subtle  forms  and  wiles  of  self!  And 
what  misery,  what  wretchedness,  to  be  thus  under  the 
dominion  and  deceptions  of  this  lying,  sinful,  selfish  self! 
Oh  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me! 

,Aye !  here  is  the  point  of  self-despair,  the  soul  sinking, 
lost,  undone,  convinced  of  it  at  length,  and  out  of  the  very 
stress  and  agony  of  the  consciousness  of  sinking  into  hell, 
crying  out  to  Christ  for  mercy  !  Here  is  the  very  point 
where  mercy  can  come,  safely,  lastingly.  Here  self  is 
down,  abased,  quitted,  lost ;  nothing  left  but  a  mere  outcry 
of  despairing  faith  to  Christ.  It  is  just  such  utterly  lost 
souls  that  Christ  came  to  seek  and  to  save.  And  is  not 
this  infinitely  better  than  to  take  a  soul's  counterfeit 
money?  Is  not  this  a  merciful  refusal  on  the  part  of 
Christ,  and  a  most  merciful  and  gracious  discipline,  to 
strip  the  soul  of  self  before  blessing  it  ?  You  perhaps 
think  Christ  a  hard  master,  because  he  says,  Deny  thyself, 
and,  He  that  seeketh  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  but  he  can  be  a 
kind  and  good  master  in  no  other  way.  If  he  should  let 
you  into  heaven  before  you  have  been  beaten  down  into 
this  despair  of  self,  and  crucified,  it  would  be  no  heaven  to 
you.  You  must  indeed  be  crucified  with  Christ,  before 
you  can  be  saved  in  Christ. 

And  now,  art  thou  willing  to  learn  this  by  experience  ? 
Dost  thou  wish  to  be  thus  humbled,  and  crucified,  and  self- 
despairing  in  Christ  ?  Then  come  to  Christ.  For  he  only 
can  be  the  beginning  of  humility,  freedom,  and  mercy  to 
thy  soul  But  alas,  this  way  of  salvation  for  us  is  only  too 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  129 

easy.  If  we  were  shut  up  to  the  law  alone,  and  the 
burden  of  guilt  were  thrown  and  left  upon  us  at  the  gates 
of  hell,  and  no  Saviour  offered,  perhaps  then  we  would  be 
crying  out  for  a  Saviour.  If  the  way  of  salvation  had 
been  so  plain  to  Luther  at  the  beginning,  in  the  midst  of 
his  ignorance,  as  it  is  to  us  in  the  midst  of  our  light,  very 
likely  we  should  never  have  heard  of  Luther's  religious 
experience.  That  experience  grew  out  of  self-despair/ 

My  God  !  how  perfect  are  thy  ways ! 

But  mine  polluted  are ; 
Sin  twines  itself  about  my  praise, 

And  slides  into  my  prayer. 

When  I  would  speak  what  Thou  hast  done 

To  save  me  from  my  sin, 
I  cannot  make  thy  mercies  known, 

But  self-applause  creeps  in. 

Divine  desire,  that  holy  flame, 

Thy  grace  creates  in  me ; 
Alas !  impatience  is  its  name, 

When  it  returns  to  thee. 

This  heart  a  fount  of  evil  thoughts, 

No  constant  rest  can  know, 
While  self  upon  the  surface  floats, 

Still  bubbling  from  below. 

Let  others  in  the  gaudy  dress 

Of  fancied  merit  shine, 
The  Lord  shall  be  my  righteousness, 

The  Lord  for  ever  mine. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Faith  guided  of  God. — Unbelief  left  to  itself. — The  separating  pillar. — Sun- 
shine and  darkness  in  the  same  dispensation. — The  source  of  infidelity. 

IF  there  are  no  great  incidents  on  a  journey,  little  ones 
may  be  useful.  Every  day's  occurrences  have  their 
purpose,  trifling  though  they  may  seem.  My  trunk  shuts 
with  a  spring.  One  day  in  travelling,  after  I  had  opened 
my  trunk,  I  carelessly  threw  the  key  upon  the  top  of  the 
articles  in  it,  and  then,  forgetting  this  circumstance,  I  shut 
down  the  lid,  and  there  it  was,  fast  closed,  with  the  key 
itself  inside.  I  could  not  get  it  open  in  any  way,  but  had 
to  send  for  a  locksmith.  I  was  thinking  afterwards  what 
possible  good  could  come  out  of  this  accident,  which  cost 
me  on  a  journey  some  loss  of  time,  and  seemed  very 
foolish.  In  the  first  place,  the  locksmith  and  I  entered 
into  a  religious  conversation,  while  he  was  at  work  upon 
the  trunk.  Some  good,  very  possibly,  came  out  of  that. 
In  the  second  place,  it  might  teach  me  to  be  more  careful. 
In  the  third  place,  it  made  me  think  of  the  need  and  office 
of  faith,  for  the  use  of  our  knowledge. 

Faith  is  to  the  understanding  with  its  treasures  of  sacred 
knowledge,  what  a  key  is  to  a  well  filled  trunk.  You 
cannot  get  at  these  treasures,  for  the  use  of  them,  without 
violence,  but  by  the  exercise  of  faith.  It  is  faith  which 
opens  the  understanding,  and  shows  God  and  divine 
things  in  it,  and  the  divine  meaning  of  the  things  which 
the  understanding  encompasses.  But  faith  is  above  the 
understanding.  Now  some  men  make  it  inferior.  They 


GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS.    131 

put  the  understanding  uppermost.  They  shut  down  the 
lid  of  the  understanding  upon  faith,  which  is  about  as  bad 
as  my  shutting  up  the  key  of  my  trunk  inside  of  it.  The 
key  was  of  no  use  whatever  in  that  position,  and  all  my 
goods  and  wearing  apparel,  and  books  besides,  were  of  no 
use  to  me  while  thus  shut  up,  if  I  could  not  get  at  them. 
And  just  so,  though  a  man  possess  all  knowledge,  yet  if  he 
have  not  faith  to  get  at  its  true  meaning,  and  make  a  right 
application  of  it,  it  is  of  no  use ;  he  must  have  the  key. 
But  some  religionists  wish  to  pack  all  mysteries  into  their 
understanding,  and  the  key  besides.  When  this  is  the 
case  there  is  no  way  but  to  have  it  taken  to  the  locksmith. 
And  the  locksmith  can  tell  any  man  that  his  trunk  is  a 
finite  thing,  yea,  though  he  should  bring  to  be  mended  a 
trunk  as  big  and  as  splendid  as  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  It  is 
a  finite  thing,  and  cannot  hold  all  mysteries,  but  only  some 
fragments  and  germs  of  truth,  some  beginnings  of  know- 
ledge, something  given  to  him  of  God,  and  some  poor  and 
partial  guesses  of  his  own.  And  the  bigger  he  thinks  it  is, 
and  the  more  he  prides  himself  upon  it,  the  less  of  real 
truth  it  will  hold,  and  the  more  easily  it  gets  out  of  order, 
and  then  he  himself  can  do  nothing  with  it. 

When  the  heart  gets  out  of  order,  only  he  that  made  the 
heart  can  set  it  right.  Only  he  who  knoweth  all  its 
springs,  sees  precisely  what  is  wrong,  and  knows  just 
where  and  how  to  apply  the  remedy.  Even  when  God 
has  given  us  faith,  and  the  key  of  the  trunk  is  not  lost,  the 
lock  itself  may  be  out  of  order.  A  constant  waiting  upon 
God  is  necessary. 

For  Reason  still,  unless  divinely  taught, 
Whate'er  she  learns,  learns  nothing  as  she  ought. 
The  lamp  of  Revelation  only  shows 
What  human  wisdom  cannot  but  oppose, 
That  man,  in  nature's  richest  mantle  clad, 
And  graced  with  all  philosophy  can  add, 
Though  fair  without,  and  luminous  within, 
Is  still  the  progeny  and  heir  of  sin. 


132  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Thus  taught,  down  falls  the  plumage  of  his  pride, 
He  feels  his  need  of  un  unerring  guide, 
And  knows  that  falling  he  shall  rise  no  more, 
Unless  the  power  that  bade  him  stand  restore. 
This  is  indeed  philosophy  ;  this  know}), 
Makes  wisdom,  worthy  of  the  name,  his  own, 
And  without  this,  whatever  he  discuss, 
Whether  the  space  between  the  stars  and  us, 
Whether  he  measure  earth,  compute  the  sea, 
Weigh  sunbeams,  carve  a  fly,  or  split  a  flea, 
The  solemn  trifler,  with  his  boasted  skill, 
Toils  much,  and  is  a  solemn  trifler  still. 
Blind  was  he  born,  and  his  misguided  eyes, 
Grown  dim  in  trifling  studies,  blind  he  dies. 

There  is  no  help  for  this,  but  in  God's  grace,  and  He 
who  is  the  Light  of  the  World  has  said,  "  For  judgment 
came  I  into  the  world,  that  they  which  see  not  might  see, 
and  that  they  which  see  might  be  made  blind."  And  this 
is  a  declaration  which  is  but  the  counterpart  of  the  saying, 
"  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repent- 
ance. They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  Physician,  but  they 
that  are  sick."  The  first  thing  is  for  men  to  be  convinced 
that  they  are  sick  and  blind  ;  they  who  say  that  they  see 
and  that  they  are  whole,  must,  by  Christ's  coming  and 
judgment,  be  made  sick  and  blind ;  then  will  they  cry, 
Lord,  heal  me  !  Lord,  that  I  may  receive  my  sight !  And 
then  the  Great  Physician  gives  health  and  sight. 

But  even  after  this,  sin  still  works  derangement,  and  if 
there  be. carelessness,  great  and  disastrous  derangement. 
He  who,  by  his  own  sweet  and  powerful  grace,  sets  the 
mind  in  order,  he  it  is  alone,  who  by  the  same  grace  can 
keep  it  in  order.  This  the  beloved  Christian  Poet,  Cow- 
per,  whom  we  have  quoted  above,  knew  from  experience. 

Man  is  a  harp  whose  chords  elude  the  sight, 

Each  yielding  harmony,  disposed  aright. 

The  screws  reversed  (a  task  which,  if  he  please, 

God  in  a  moment  executes  with  ease), 

Ten  thousand  thousand  strings  at  once  go  loose, 

Lost,  till  he  tune  them,  all  their  power  and  use. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  133 

Very  many  things  are  to  be  guarded  against ;  God's 
Word  is  to  be  constantly  and  carefully  hidden  in  the  heart, 
and  self-love  and  self-prejudice  are  to  be  watched  as  one 
would  watch  an  enemy ;  for  it  is  only  in  God's  light  that 
we  can  continue  to  see  light. 

"  I  once  saw,"  said  Mr.  Cecil,  "  this  subject  forcibly  illus- 
trated. A  watchmaker  told  me  that  a  gentleman  had  put  an 
exquisite  watch  into  his  hands,  that  went  irregularly.  It 
was  as  perfect  a  piece  of  work  as  was  ever  made.  He  took 
it  to  pieces  and  put  it  together  again  twenty  times.  No 
manner  of  defect  was  to  be  discovered,  and  yet  the  watch 
went  intolerably.  At  last  it  struck  him  that  possibly  the 
balance-wheel  might  have  been  near  a  magnet.  On 
applying  a  needle  to  it,  he  found  his  suspicion  true.  The 
steel-work  in  the  other  parts  of  the  watch  went  as  well  as 
possible  with  a  new  wheel.  If  the  soundest  mind  be  mag- 
netized by  any  predilection,  it  must  act  irregularly." 

Who  has  not  seen  a  humanly  magnetized  mind  thus 
working,  and  the  more  powerful  and  active,  the  greater 
the  wrong  and  the  error.  The  pride  of  the  mind  in  such 
a  case  makes  it  quite  blind,  and  it  sometimes  does  but 
make  sport  for  the  Philistines,  instead  of  advancing  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  and  at  the  last,  when  it  thinks  that  by  a 
mighty  effort  it  is  pulling  down  the  temple  of  error  upon 
the  heads  of  the  followers  of  Dagon,  it  does  but  bring  the 
fragments  of  truth  upon  itself.  The  ways  of  the  Lord  are 
right,  and  the  just  shall  walk  in  them  ;  but  the  transgressors 
shall  fall  therein.  And  the  just  walketh  and  liveth  in  them 
by  his  faith,  not  by  the  pride  of  his  understanding.  To  the 
eye  of  faith,  and  to  the  eye  of  the  natural  man,  or  to  faith 
as  magnetized  and  obscured  by  the  influence  of  the  natural 
man,  the  same  truths  and  ways  of  God  present  a  spectacle 
wholly  different. 

In  this  view,  how  full  of  beauty  are  the  lessons  of  the 
miracle  wrought  of  God  between  the  camp  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  the  camp  of  Israel,  and  how  full  of  sacred 
lessons  are  the  glory  and  beauty  of  the  miracle  !  "  And 


134  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

the  angel  of  God,  which  went  before  the  camp  of  Israel, 
removed,  and  went  behind  them ;  and  the  pillar  of  the 
cloud  went  from  before  their  face,  and  stood  behind  them. 
And  it  came  between  the  camp  of  th§  Egyptians  and  the 
camp  of  Israel  ;  and  it  was  a  cloud  and  darkness  to  the 
Egyptians,  but  it  gave  light  by  night  to  Israel ;  so  that  the 
one  came  not  near  the  other  all  the  night." 

The  light  of  this  miracle  shines  through  our  whole 
Christian  life.  When  the  children  of  Israel  took  their 
departure  from  Egypt,  and  journeyed  from  Rameses  to 
Succoth,  God  led  them.  At  first  the  way  was  plain,  so 
plain,  that  no  visible  angel  needed  to  march  before  them  to 
point  out  the  direction.  They  were  to  make  haste  out  of 
Egypt  the  nearest  way  towards  the  region  whither  God 
would  bring  them  ;  that  done,  God  would  go  before  them 
more  visibly.  So  when  a  man  leaves  his  native  City  of 
Destruction  on  the  pilgrimage  towards  heaven,  he  must 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  following  in  the  nearest  way 
what  light  he  sees  already  in  God's  Word,  that  light  always 
shining  in  the  way  to  Christ ;  and  when  he  has  once 
heartily  started,  he  will  find  God  day  by  day  more  visibly 
interposing  and  guiding  him.  When  they  took  their  journey 
from  Succoth,  and  encamped  in  Etham  in  the  edge  of  the 
wilderness,  then  the  Lord  went  before  them  by  day  in  a 
pillar  of  cloud  to  lead  them  the  way  ;  and  by  night  in  a 
pillar  of  fire  to  give  them  light,  to  go  by  day  and  night. 
He  took  not  away  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  by  day,  nor  the 
pillar  of  fire  by  night,  from  before  the  people.  It  was 
always  a  light  and  guidance  for  them,  and  in  the  approach 
of  difficulty,  it  was  a  protection  to  them  from  their  ene- 
mies. On  this  great  occasion  of  the  passage  of  the  Red 
Sea,  it  went  behind  them,  and  stood  between  them  and 
their  enemies,  and  all  night  long,  in  that  encampment  by 
the  sea,  the  same  cloud  was  a  pillar  of  light  to  the  Israel- 
ites, dispelling  their  fears  and  pouring  a  bright  radiance 
over  the  whole  scene  before  them,  while  it  was  a  double 
darkness  to  the  Egyptians,  filling  them  with  dread,  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  135 

making  it  impossible  to  stir  from   their  lines  till  morn- 
ing. 

Now  this  was  a  very  significant  and  beautiful  emblem 
or  symbol  of  what  takes  place  between  the  soul  and  God, 
just  according  to  the  character  of  the  affections.  The 
way  of  the  Lord  is  strength  and  light  to  the  upright,  but 
destruction  to  the  workers  of  iniquity.  Whoso  is  wise, 
and  he  shall  understand  these  things  ?  prudent,  and  he 
shall  know  them  ?  For  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are  right, 
and  the  just  shall  walk  in  them  ;  but  the  transgressors  shall 
fall  therein.  So  in  Isaiah,  Sanctify  the  Lord  of  hosts  him- 
self ;  and  let  him  be  your  fear  and  let  him  be  your  dread. 
And  he  shall  be  for  a  sanctuary ;  but  for  a  stone  of 
stumbling  and  a  rt>ck  of  offence  to  the  unbelieving  and 
disobedient.  So  precisely  the  same  gospel,  and  the  same 
way  of  the  Lord  in  it,  shall  be  a  savor  of  life  to  the 
believing  soul,  of  death  to  the  unbelieving.  Not  another 
and  different  way,  but  the  same  way.  This  pillar  of  cloud, 
and  the  same  pillar,  was  a  guide  and  a  light  to  the  believ- 
ing, but  a  darkness  and  terror  -to  the  unbelieving.  In  the 
approach  of  difficulty,  it  was  both  a  protection  to  one  and 
a  destruction  to  the  other. 

This  is  the  simple  working  and  result  of  faith  and  un- 
belief. It  is  not  any  arbitrary  arrangement  on  the  part 
of  God,  but  the  presentation,  on  the  part  of  man,  of  dif- 
ferent qualities,  elements,  an*d  actions,  to  the  operation  of 
the  same  attributes.  The  same  truth,  that  saves  a  believ- 
ing soul,  destroys  an  unbelieving.  Not  a  different  side  of 
the  same  truth,  but  precisely  the  same  side  ;  as,  for  instance, 
God's  forgiving  mercy  in  Christ  to  the  sinner,  offered  to 
two  men,  precisely  in  the  same  way,  proves,  to  the  one 
who  believingly  accepts  of  it,  salvation  both  from  sin  and 
from  misery,  but  to  the  other,  who  simply  does  not  accept 
of  it,  but  remains  just  as  before,  a  deeper  guilt  and  a 
greater  misery.  Precisely  the  same  salvation  is  changed, 
by  unbelief,  from  a  blessing,  into  condemnation  and  a 
curse.  And  offer  what  side  of  truth  you  will,  it  is  the 


136  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

same.  It  is  not  because  the  believer  experiences  one  side 
of  truth,  and  the  unbeliever  another  and  an  opposite  side, 
that  there  is  to  them  all  the  difference  between  life  and 
death,  but  because  they  both  experience  the  same  side,  but 
offer  to  its  operation  qualities  in  themselves  entirely  dif- 
ferent. One  sees  the  same  truth  as  the  other,  and  in  the 
same  position  ;  but  with  different  feelings,  different  sensi- 
bilities, a  different  character;  and  therefore  the  appearance 
and  effect  of  the  same  truth  must  in  each  case  be  totally 
opposite. 

Just  so,  it  was  not  because  a  particular  side  of  the  pillar 
of  cloud  was  turned  towards  the  Egyptians  that  the  whole 
appeared  a  thick  and  frightful  darkness  ;  for  if  the  pillar 
had  been  turned  with  the  other  side"  towards  the  Egyp- 
tians, then  that  would  have  been  equally  dark,  while  the 
side  towards  the  Israelites  would  have  been  bright.  It  is 
faith  that  makes  the  difference.  The  pillar  of  God's  Word 
is  bright  to  faith,  but  dark  and  threatening  to  unbelief ;  its 
demands  are  easy  to  faith,  but  difficult  to  unbelief.  This 
was  realized  in  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  same 
way  of  the  Lord  was  strength  to  his  own  people,  but 
destruction  to  the  workers  of  iniquity.  By  faith  his  peo- 
ple passed  through  the  Red  Sea  as  by  dry  land,  which  the 
Egyptians  assaying  to  do  were  drowned. 

So  it  is  with  all  the  principles,  doctrines,  elements,  and 
craggy  passes  of  God's  WorcT ;  rugged  or  smooth,  plain  or 
difficult,  they  are  all  impassable  except  to  faith.  There  is 
no  light  in  them  to  unbelief,  while  to  the  upright  there 
ariseth  light  in  the  darkness.  The  mere  intellect  may  see 
no  light  in  them,  while  the  heart  sees  clear  light.  The 
intellect  may  not  be  able  to  understand  them,  except 
through  the  heart,  to  which  it  often  has  to  come  for 
counsel  and  interpretation.  A  believing,  loving  heart, 
purified  by  faith,  is  the  medium  of  divine  knowledge. 
The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him,  and  he 
will  show  them  his  covenant.  It  is  love  that  brings  light ; 
it  is  faith  working  by  love,  and  love  is  as  the  atmosphere 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  137 

for  light.  There  would  be  no  light  in  our  world  were  it 
not  for  the  atmosphere ;  and  just  so  it  is  with  the  soul. 
Love  is  the  atmosphere  through  which  light  reaches  the 
inmost  vision  of  the  soul.  God's  word  must  be  viewed 
through  the  atmosphere  of  love,  or  nothing  is  seen  truly 
and  rejoicingly  in  it.  The  Word  is  always  shining,  and 
always  the  same  ;  for  as  God  is  light,  and  in  him  is  no 
darkness  at  all,  so  is  his  Word ;  but  if  the  Word  shineth 
in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehendeth  it  not,  there 
is  no  atmosphere  of  love  for  it  to  irradiate,  and  no  vision 
of  faith  to  see  it.  He  that  followeth  me,  said  the  Lord 
Jesus,  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light 
of  life.  While  ye  have  light,  believe  in  the  light,  that  ye 
may  be  the  children  of  light.  Without  this  faith,  working 
by  and  through  love,  receiving  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it, 
we  are  mere  children  of  sense  and  of  darkness,  mere 
Egyptians ;  and  the  Word,  instead  of  being  a  pillar  of  fire 
by  night,  a  flame  of  holy  animating  light,  is  a  cloud  of 
thick  judgment  and  terrible  darkness.  There  are  nothing 
but  elements  of  condemnation  in  it. 

Now  if  it  is  so  with  God's  Word,  it  must  be  the  same 
with  God's  Providences  ;  for  God's  Word  is  but  the  record 
of  his  Providences,  and  of  the  principles  by  which  they 
are  unfolded,  on  which  they  are  founded,  and  which  they 
are  intended  to  illustrate.  There  is  a  bright  side  to  them, 
and  a  dark  one  ;  not,  indeed,  in  themselves,  for  with 
reference  to  God  they  are  all  bright,  as  revelations  of  his 
attributes  and  parts  of  his  administration.  But  to  the  view 
of  different  souls,  and  to  the  experience  of  God's  creatures 
as  submissive  and  believing,  or  unsubmissive  and  un- 
believing, as  selfish  and  dark,  or  loving  and  bright,  God's 
Providences  are  all  just  like  that  pillar  of  cloud  and  flame. 
It  was  only  the  side  towards  God's  own  people  that  was 
bright ;  that  is.  the  side  towards  faith  ;  but  the  side  towards 
the  Egyptians  was  darkness ;  that  is,  the  side  towards  un- 
belief. So  it  ever  is,  and  must  be,  with  all  God's  dispensa- 
tions. They  have  two  sides,  a  bright  and  a  dark  side  ;  but 


138  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

the  bright  side  is  bright  only  to  faith,  and  the  dark  side  is 
dark  only  to  unbelief.  Put  faith  on  the  dark  side,  and  it 
Would  appear  bright ;  put  unbelief  on  the  bright  side,  and 
it  appears  dark.  Take  the  same  Providence  ;  suppose  it 
be  a  severe  illness  ;  suppose  it  be  the  loss  of  property  ; 
suppose  it  be  the  sickness  and  death  of  a  dear  one  in  the 
family.  It  is  on  all  sides,  in  all  respects,  in  all  circum- 
stances, one  and  the  same.  Go  about  it  and  examine  it 
curiously  in  every  direction,  as  one  might  have  done  with 
the  pillar  of  cloud,  to  find  what  there  was  in  it  that  shone  so 
strangely  in  one  direction,  while  it  darkened  in  the  other  ; 
and  you  find  precisely  the  same  elements,  the  same 
materials ;  precisely  the  same,  and  yet  to  a  believing  soul, 
and  an  unbelieving,  it  is  wholly  different. 

Set  the  same  pillar  down  in  a  household  of  faith  and  a 
household  of  prayerlessness  and  unbelief,  and  while  in  one 
case  it  will  be  a  pillar  of  bright  flame,  in  the  other  it  will 
be  darkness.  It  is  because  of  the  different  position  and 
frame  of  the  soul  towards  God,  not  because  of  any  different 
elements  in  the  providence.  In  the  soul  submissive  and 
loving,  the  providence  is  seen,  received,  and  read,  under 
the  light  of  that  bright  star  of  faith  in  the  promises,  All 
things  work  for  good,  and  are  meant  for  good  to  those 
who  love  God,  and  of  that  other  bright  star,  As  many  as  I 
love  I  rebuke  and  chasten.  But  in  the  soul  selfish,  un- 
submissive, and  unbelieving,  there  is  no  such  light,  no  such 
interpretation,  no  such  promise  before,  or  rainbow  after 
the  storm,  but  all  is  storm  and  all  darkness. 

The  believing  soul  has  a  key  to  God's  providences  in 
his  Word,  and  there  studies  them.  And  it  may  be  said 
that  there  is  a  series  of  telegraphic  signals,  by  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart  of  the  believer  communicates 
with  God's  providences,  and  knows  them  afar  off  as  friends, 
and  receives  them  as  ships  laden  with  a  freight  of  blessing ; 
while  the  unbelieving  heart  puts  the  coast  in  defence 
against  them,  and  makes  them  necessarily  enemies,  by 
treating  them  as  such.  In  all  things  God  is  love,  if  men 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  139 

will  leave  God  to  dictate,  God  to  arrange,  God  to  deter- 
mine, God  to  execute  his  sovereign  will,  as  little  children 
leave  the  care  and  ordering  of  all  things  to  a  loving 
Father.  But  if  the  child  sets  up  its  qwn  will,  the  creature 
its  short-sightedness  and  self-preferences,  then  the  love 
itself  must  assume  the  form  of  rebuke  and  chastisement, 
and  if  the  self-will  continues,  of  punishment.  Then  the 
pillar  of  light  becomes  darkness,  and  self-will  and  distrust, 
continued,  shut  up  the  soul  in  the  prison  of  hell  to  the 
blackness  of  darkness. 

God's  Word  in  connexion  with  his  providential  dispen- 
sations is  like  a  glorious  pavilion  of  transparencies,  which 
you  must  enter,  and  study  it  on  the  inside,  where  God  has 
drawn  in  living  colors  and  wondrous  figures  the  revela- 
tions of  his  mercy  to  the  soul.  Standing  within  the 
inclosure  of  his  purposes,  you  see  them  passing  into 
realities,  aiad  the  light  shining  through  them,  to  be  used  for 
your  enjoyment  and  growth  in  grace.  Standing  without, 
you  see  nothing  at  all  but  a  thick  blurr.  It  is  like  the 
view  of  stained  glass  in  the  sides  of  a  great  cathedral, 
wrought  with  religious  figures;  you  see  their  light  and 
know  their  meaning  when  within  the  sanctuary ;  you  see 
nothing  while  without  it.  So  it  is  with  God's  dispensa- 
tions. Within  his  word,  his  sanctuary,  his  covenant, 
within  the  inclosures  of  his  love,  the  temple  of  his  grace, 
under  the  teachings  of  his  Spirit,  who  takes  of  the  things 
that  are  Christ's,  and  shows  them  to  the  soul,  his  dispensa- 
tions are  as  windows  filled  with  high  and  sacred  meaning, 
through  the  colors  of  which  God's  own  light  shines  in 
upon  the  soul.  But  to  one  without  faith,  and  outside  the 
word  of  God,  they  are  all  dark  and  confused,  just  as  out- 
side the  walls  of  the  cathedral,  the  glass  is  without  mean- 
ing. We  must  obey  God's  directions,  and  possess  God's 
Spirit,  and  have  faith  in  God's  promises,  if  we  would  see 
God's  sights. 

Undoubtedly,  much  depends  upon  the  different  states 
of  the  mind  at  different  times,  even  with  the  Christian ; 


140  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

just  as  in  seeing  the  objects  of  nature,  much  depends  upon 
the  state  of  the  atmosphere.  It  is  not  a  thing  belonging  to 
the  mountains,  but  between  them  and  the  eye,  so  that 
whatever  darkness  there  may  be  in  t^ie  atmosphere,  it  can 
make  no  alteration  in  the  mountains.  And  just  so,  the 
intervening  mists  and  clouds  before  the  truths  in  God's 
Word  belong  not  to  those  truths,  but  are  between  those 
truths  and  the  mind.  The  mind  may  change,  and  the 
modes  of  viewing  those  truths,  the  dispositions  with  which 
it  looks  at  them,  may  change,  but  not  the  truths  themselves. 

Because  you  do  not  see  those  truths  clearly  to-day,  it  is 
no  proof  that  you  may  not  see  them  clearly  to-morrow. 
An  interval  of  prayer  may  change  your  whole  atmosphere. 
There  may  be  a  change  of  weather,  a  breeze  from  the 
Paradise  of  God,  a  gale  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  shall 
sweep  all  the  clouds  from  your  sky,  and  you  will  see  what 
you  could  not  see  before,  though  you  knew  that  it  existed. 
The  scenery  was  not  gone,  merely  because  you  could  not 
see  it.  The  fact  of  the  mists  being  there  does  not  throw 
any  doubt  over  the  mountains  being  there.  Neither  ought 
it  to  have  any  such  influence  ^in  divine  things,  in  faith, 
in  the  intercourse  of  the  soul  with  God  and  eternal  realities. 
You  believe,  and  therefore  you  know.  You  believe,  and 
therefore  speak,  knowing.  We  walk  by  faith,  not  sight, 
and  are  always  confident,  knowing.  Knowledge  is  pro- 
duced by  faith,  not  sight.  It  is  an  error  to  go  by  frames 
and  feelings,  when  we  ought  to  make  frames  and  feelings 
go  by  the  Word  of  God.  The  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and 
of  fire  by  night  is  not  to  be  guided  by  the  impulses  of  the 
people  of  God,  whether  to  go  or  stay,  but  their  impulses 
and  movements  are  to  be  directed  and  determined  accord- 
ing to  the  leadings  of  the  cloud  and  the  fire. 

The  appearance  of  the  Word  to  our  souls  depends  much 
upon  the  habitude  of  the  soul  in  looking  to  Christ  and  set- 
ting the  daily  life  after  him.  In  God  will  I  praise  his 
Word ;  in  the  Lord  will  1  praise  his  Word,  says  David. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  141 

In  thy  light  shall  we  see  light.  A  person  whose  life  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God  sees  all  things  as  God  sees  them, 
praises  God's  Word  in  every  part,  in  every  shade,  turn, 
and  application  of  it ;  sees  and  rejoices  in  God's  will  in  his 
Word,  beholds  his  attributes,  bright,  lovely,  and  glorious 
in  all  his  testimonies,  and  esteems  all  his  precepts  concern- 
ing all  things  to  be  right.  Thy  Won?  is  true  from  the 
beginning,  and  every  one  of  thy  righteous  judgments  is 
true  and  righteous  for  ever.  All  the  aspects  of  God's 
Word  are  light  and  loveliness  to  such  a  soul.  And  all  the 
precious  influences  of  God's  Word  have  their  full  and 
blessed  effect  upon  such  a  soul.  It  grows  in  grace,  in  the 
symmetry  and  beauty  of  grace  ;  every  faculty  of  the  soul, 
every  power  of  the  mind,  as  well  as  the  feelings  of  the 
heart,  grow  in  the  presence  of  Christ,  beneath  his  eye,  his 
light,  his  care. 

Walking  one  summer's  day  into  a  forest  towards  the 
North,  on  coming  back  I  was  struck  with  the  mosses 
gathered  on  the  North  sides  of  the  trees,  while  the  South 
and  sunny  sides  were  all  smooth  and  bright.  It  suggested 
at  once  a  resemblance  and  a  contrast  between  the  growth 
of  spiritual  things  in  man,  and  mere  vegetable  life  in 
nature.  This  latter  is  a  fixture,  but  the  other  a  voluntary 
intelligence.  But  suppose  that  men  kept  only  a  part  of 
their  being  towards  the  Sun  of  Righteousness ;  and  then 
the  consequence  would  be  that  all  the  rest  would  soon  be 
covered  with  mosses  and  dead  bark.  And  so  in  a  Church 
of  Christ  you  can  see  life  in  that  portion  only  which  is 
turned  towards  the  Sun.  And  so  with  our  affections  as 
individuals  ;  they  must  be  turned  towards  Christ,  and  must 
grow  in  his  light  and  love  ;  and  every  part  of  our  thought- 
ful nature,  that  is  not  so  turned  towards  him,  speedily 
grows  moss-covered  and  almost  palsied,  if  not  dead  and 
perverted.  Our  affections  must  be  like  the  face  of  the 
flower,  always  turning  to  the  Sun,  and  not  like  a  forest  of 
trees,  never  seeing  the  Sun  but  on  one  side.  Looking  unto 


142  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Jesus  must  be  the  position  of  the  Christian,  whatever  be 
the  circumstances  of  his  soul. 

But  here  perhaps  I  am  addressing  some  in  the  camp  of 
the  Egyptians,  who  are  ready  to  say,  O,  this  is  all  very 
well  to  those  who  see  the  Word  of  God  as  you  Christians 
see  it ;  but  for  us  on  the  dark  side,  of  what  use  is  it  ? 
What  can  we  do,  while  the  Word  of  God  is  to  us  a  sealed 
book,  or  nothing  but  a  pillar  of  salt  or  of  darkness  to  us  ? 
Why,  we  will  tell  you.  Come  over  upon  our  side.  Come 
with  us  and  we  will  do  you  good.  Change  your  position. 
Leave  your  Egyptian  encampment,  and  come  over  upon 
Israel's  borders,  and  trust  in  Israel's  God,  and  then  you 
will  see  the  Word  from  the  same  side  that  we  do,  and  it 
will  be  all  bright  and  glorious.  Why  is  there  any  dark 
side  at  all  ?  The  darkness  is  in  you,  and  not  in  God's 
Word.  It  is  because  you  stand  afar  off,  on  your  side,  not 
God's,  and  at  a  distance.  "Is  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
straitened  ?  Are  these  his  doings  ?  Do  not  my  words  do 
good  to  him  that  walketh  uprightly  ?"  What  can  we,  or 
God's  Word,  or  all  evidence  do  for  you,  or  even  God  him- 
self, so  long  as  you  leave  not  your  present  position  and 
habitude  of  heart,  but  stay  in  it,  putting  yourself  on  the 
side  of  God's  enemies,  the  side  on  which  you  see  nothing 
in  God's  Word  but  a  flaming  sword,  turning  every  way 
against  you  at  the  Gate  of  the  Paradise  of  Life  ? 

Indeed,  it  is  the  heart  of  the  sinner  that  must  change, 
or  the  Word  of  God  can  never  be  otherwise  than  as  that 
flaming  sword.  A  man  will  find  it  life  to  his  soul  only  in 
Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  Sealed  as 
it  may  be  to  you  now,  there  is  enough  in  it,  plain  as  the 
daylight,  which  you  not  only  may  understand,  but  which 
you  cannot  help  understanding,  and  which  condemns  you 
utterly.  Come  to  it  in  Christ,  come  applying  to  him  as 
your  teacher,  and  you  will  speedily  find  it  both  plain  and 
full  of  interest.  You  will  see  and  feel  its  evidence  as 
God's  Word.  It  will  speak  to  you  as  to  the  prophets.  It 
will  come  between  you  and  every  evil.  It  will  be  not  only 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  143 

a  revelation  from  God,  but  the  revelation  of  God  to  your 
soul,  and  in  God's  light  you  will  see  light.  You  will  take 
the  part  of  God  in  all  things,  and  God  will  take  your  part. 
You  will  esteem  all  his  precepts  concerning  all  things  to  be 
right,  and  you  will  hate  every  false  way.  You  will  be 
able  to  say,  "  Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him." 
You  will  find  his  Word  to  be  the  daily  food  of  your  soul ; 
and  the  difficulties  that  now  perhaps  press  upon  you  will 
be  changed  into  occasions  of  adoration  and  of  faith.  The 
hard  places  of  Scripture,  that  seem  to  you,  seen  through 
the  atmosphere  of  guilt,  with  dreadful  faces  thronged,  and 
fiery  arms,  will  wear  the  aspect  of  glorious  guardian  angels. 
All  things  will  put  on,  towards  you,  the  look  and  disposition 
of  your  soul  towards  God.  If  that  be  a  frame  of  love,  .all 
things  will  come  to  you  as  ministers  and  messengers  of 
love.  If  your  affections  go  out  after  God,  all  things  will 
be  full  of  him,  in  his  Word,  and  in  his  Works,  and  in  his 
Providence,  and  everything  in  which  you  see  him  will  fill 
you  with  sacred  delight. 

And  thou,  sad  sufferer  under  nameless  ill, 

That  yields  not  to  the  touch  of  human  skill, 

Improve  the  kind  occasion,  understand 

A  Father's  power,  and  kiss  his  chastening  hand. 

To  thee  the  day-spring  and  the  blaze  of  noon, 

The  purple  evening  and  resplendent  moon, 

The  stars  that,  sprinkled  o'er  the  vault  of  night, 

Seem  drops  descending  in  a  shower  of  light, 

Shine  not,  or  undesired  and  hated  shine, 

Seen  through  the  medium  of  a  cloud  like  thine. 

Yet  seek  Him ;  in  his  favor  life  is  found, 

All  bliss  beside,  a  shadow  or  a  sound. 

Then,  heaven  eclipsed  so  long,  and  this  dull  earth, 

Shall  seem  to  start  into  a  second  birth ; 

Nature,  assuming  a  more  lovely  face, 

Borrowing  a  beauty  from  the  works  of  grace, 

Shall  be  despised  and  overlooked  no  more, 

Shall  fill  thee  with  delights  unfelt  before, 

Impart  to  things  inanimate  a  voice, 

And  bid  her  mountains  and  her  hills  rejoice. 


144  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

The  secret  cause  of  infidelity  is  perhaps  invariably  a 
darkness  in  the  mind  produced  by  wrong  affections,  by  the 
love  of  sin  in  the  heart,  by  such  a  state  of  things  there, 
that  the  soul  feels  anxious  and  uneasy  in  the  presence  of 
God,  and  gloomy  beneath  the  light  of  his  attributes. 
Nothing  but  God's  Spirit  can  overcome  that.  Such  a 
state  of  things  will  bring  a  pillar  of  cloud  and  darkness 
between  the  soul  and  God,  and  will  make  the  soul  desire 
and  endeavor  to  see  God  in  other  lights  than  those  in  which 
he  shines  in  the  Word  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  Hence, 
the  beginning,  the  existence,  and  the  increase  of  error. 
If  there  were  a  clear,  open,  frank,  trusting,  sunny  heart 
towards  God,  there  would  be  a  clear,  unmistaken,  Scrip- 
tural view  of  God.  And  hence  the  pointed  condemnation 
we  everywhere  meet  with  in  God's  Word,  against  error 
and  infidelity,  as  being  not  only  the  consequence  of  guilt, 
but  in  itself  guilt. 

All  religious  error,  that  involves  the  soul  in  a  conflict 
against  the  God  and  the  piety  of  the  Scriptures,  is  sinful, 
and  leads  to  sin.  There  are  indifferent  points,  in  regard  to 
which  it  may  be  said,  Neither  if  we  eat  are  we  the  better, 
neither  if  we  eat  not,  are  we  the  worse.  And  there  may 
be  errors  in  judgment,  even  with  the  best  intentions ; 
although,  if  man  were  not  a  fallen  being,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  there  would  ever  have  been  any  error,  even  in 
that.  But  a  loving,  humble  heart,  that  comes  to  God  in 
his  Word  for  light,  God  will  never  suffer  to  go  seriously 
astray.  And  indeed  a  loving,  humble  heart  not  only  has 
the  light  of  God's  Word  to  go  by,  but  possesses  also  the 
Interpreter  of  God's  Word,  dwelling  in  the  soul,  even  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because 
it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him,  but  who  will  guard 
the  soul  from  error,  and  lead  it  into  all  truth.  Without 
this,  the  soul's  speculations  are  presumption. 

And  while  she  dotes,  and  dreams  that  she  believes, 
She  mocks  her  Maker,  and  herself  deceives  ; 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  145 

Her  utmost  reach,  historical  assent, 

The  doctrines  warped  to  what  they  never  meant. 

The  truth  itself  is  in  her  head  as  dull 

And  useless  as  a  candle  in  a  skull ; 

And  all  her  love  of  God  a  groundless  claim, 

A  trick  upon  the  canvas,  painted  flame. 

So  whenever  any  soul  departs  from  the  truth,  we  shall 
find  the  beginning  of  such  departure,  in  the  neglect  of  that 
Divine  Spirit,  and  in  human  prejudice  and  pride.  A  man 
flatters  self  instead  of  consulting  God,  submitting  to  God, 
and  thence  comes  a  perverted  judgment,  a  crooked  sight,  a 
partial,  prejudiced  view  of  things  ;  and  a  very  little  decli- 
nation from  the  truth,  followed  on,  will  lead  the  soul  fear- 
fully astray,  after  long  following.  And  then  a  man  dreams 
that  his  very  errors  are  marks  of  originality,  independence, 
and  intellectual  greatness.  Just  as  if  a  man  with  strabis- 
mus should  fancy  that  he  has  a  more  perfect  eye  than  all 
his  neighbors,  because  he  sees  cross-wise,  while  they  see 
only  straight  forward. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

The  trials  of  faith. — Trials  of  character,  and  trials  to  mend   character. — 
Inward  and  external  trials. — Christian  sympathy. 

IT  is  singularly  beautiful  to  behold  the  sacred  light  that 
shines  through  periods  of  sorrow.  Some  of  the  simple 
hymns  of  Cowper  transmit  that  light  as  an  opal  ;  for  they 
were  the  childlike  record  of  his  own  experience,  and  they 
have  given  a  household  language,  as  familiar  as  that  of 
childhood,  to  some  of  the  dearest  processes  of  the  Divine 
life. 

Trials  must  and  will  befall ; 

But  with  humble  faith  to  see 
Love  inscribed  upon  them  all, 

This  is  happiness  to  me. 
Trials  make  the  promise  sweet, 

Trials  give  new  life  to  prayer, 
Trials  bring  me  at  his  feet, 

Lay  me  low,  and  keep  me  there. 

Trials  are  among  the  most  signal  way-marks  in  the 
Pilgrimage  of  Faith,  trials  at  the  beginning,  trials  in  the 
continuance,  trials  at  the  end.  Yet  not  trials  always,  nor 
trials  unmingled,  but  enough  constantly,  or  at  intervals,  to 
prove  thee  and  show  thee  what  is  in  thy  heart,  and  to  lead 
that  heart  fqr  healing  and  rest  to  God. 


When  comforts  are  declining 
He  grants  the  soul  again 

A  season  of  clear-shining, 
To  cheer  it  after  rain. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  147 

In  holy  contemplation, 

We  sweetly  then  pursue 
The  theme  of  God's  salvation, 

And  find  it  ever  new. 

The  history  of  Faith,  and  of  God's  discipline  for  its 
increase  and  perfection,  ever  has  been  and  ever  will  be  a 
record  of  trials.  Character  is  read  and  known  in  the 
temper  of  the  soul  sustaining  them,  and  they  themselves 
are  the  costly  instruments  of  God  in  refining  and  establish- 
ing the  soul.  We  are  in  the  shop  of  the  Great  Jeweller, 
preparing  for  our  places  in  his  palace  above ;  and  they 
whom  he  means  to  make  the  most  resplendent,  said  Leighton 
in  this  beautiful  figure,  he  hath  oftenest  his  tools  upon. 
Until  this  discipline  of  God  have  been  applied  to  him,  a 
man  knows  not  of  what  elements  his  nature  is  composed, 
nor  what  hidden  evils  may  be  festering  in  his  bosom.  God 
must  bring  them  out,  and  redeem  him  from  them,  or  he 
can  never  be  prepared  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  A 
Jeweller  may  find,  in  making  up  a  casket,  a  magnificent 
stone,  in  which  there  seems  to  be  a  flaw.  If  it  extends 
through  the  stone,  it  is  useless  for  his  purpose,  and  must 
be  laid  aside  for  some  inferior  end.  Therefore  he  begins 
to  file  it  to  see  how  deep  it  goes,  and  it  may  be  that  after 
a  little  of  this  operation,  it  will  show  itself  clear ;  but  if 
not,  then  it  is  unfit  for  the  place  he  had  designed  it  to  fill. 
So  it  is  with  God  in  making  up  his  jewels ;  there  is  much 
filing  needed  to  prepare  them  for  their  heavenly  setting. 
Sometimes  there  are  such  flaws,  that  a  Christian's  useful- 
ness here  is  well  nigh  destroyed,  even  if  his  hope  of 
happiness  hereafter  be  not  ruined.  How  deep  the  interest, 
while  the  fires  of  God's  discipline  are  at  work  upon  a  man 
to  burn  out  his  dross,  or  some  keen  file  is  applied  to  remove 
the  evils  in  his  character. 

God  sometimes  sends  trials  not  for  general  sanctification 
merely,  but  to  thwart  and  break  up  particular  schemes 
which  were  wrong,  but  which  the  Christian  was  trying  to 
persuade  himself  he  might  lawfully  accomplish.  God  may 


148  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

send  a  particular  trial,  on  purpose  to  do  this  ;  it  may  be 
such  a  trial  as  removes  away  from  a  man's  power  some 
dear  thing  on  which  he  had  relied  for  the  prosecution  of 
his  scheme.  A  man  is  driving  on,  apd  God  takes  off  his 
chariot  wheels,  so  that  he  drives  heavily  ;  withdraws  the 
linch-pin,  as  it  were,  or  takes  away  the  main  spoke  in  the 
wheel  of  his  plan,  so  that  he  is  compelled  to  lay  it  aside. 
But  ordinarily  God  proceeds  more  indirectly.  'He  does 
not  speak  in  a  voice  from  heaven  ;  he  is  not  going  to  say 
from  the  sky,  or  in  a  supernatural  dream  by  an  angel,  You 
must  not  go  this  way  or  that,  or  do  this  or  that.  He  relies 
upon  the  common  sense  of  his  children  for  the  right 
interpretation  of  his  providences,  and  he  leaves  every 
man  to  draw  his  own  inferences ;  only  he  says,  Be  ye  not 
as  the  horse,  or  as  the  mule,  that  are  void  of  understanding, 
whose  mouths  must  be  held  in  with  bit  and  bridle  ;  that 
is  not  the  way  God  takes  to  guide  his  children,  but  deals 
with  them  as  free  moral  agents,  and  sometimes  relies 
greatly  upon  their  tenderness  of  conscience  to  see  and 
feel  quickly  his  meaning.  "  To  this  man  will  I  look,  even 
to  him  that  is  of  a  lowly  and  contrite  spirit,  and  who 
trembleth  at  my  Word." 

And  doubtless,  one  of  the  first  things  which  a  child  of 
God  who  trembleth  at  his  Word,  will  do  in  affliction,  must 
be  to  examine  himself,  and  see  what  course  he  has  been 
pursuing,  what  sin  he  has  been  cherishing,  what  selfish 
scheme  indulging,  or  what  idol  he  has  set  up  in  his  heart, 
and  to  suspect  that  that  is  the  thing  that  God  means.  But 
a  man  may  easily  deceive  himself  if  he  will ;  he  may  deal 
violently  with  his  conscience,  and  shut  his  eye  against  the 
lessons  God  is  teaching  him,  even  in  the  midst  of  affliction  ; 
and  if  he  does  this,  he  will  come  out  of  his  affliction  a 
more  selfish  man  than  before,  and  with  a  radical  injury 
done  to  his  character,  instead  of  a  benefit.  The  flaw  in 
that  stone  holds  on,  after  all  its  cutting  and  filing  ;  nay,  it 
has  become  more  conspicuous,  and  if  God  does  not  have 
to  throw  it  away,  he  will  be  able  at  most  to  use  it  merely 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  149 

to  fill  up  a  chink  in  some  obscure  place,  instead  of  putting 
it  where  it  would  have  shone  brightly  to  his  glory. 

It  is  a  very  precious  thing,  a  very  heavenly  attainment, 
to  have  a  quick  and  keen  perception  of  God's  meaning  in 
his  discipline,  a  tender  and  holy  consciousness  of  its  pur- 
port, and  a  sweet  readiness  to  understand  and  obey  its 
intimations,  without  forcing  God  to  use  greater  violence. 
There  is  a  childlike  simplicity  in  the  soul  of  a  man  walk- 
ing closely  with  God,  that  finds  out  his  meaning,  even 
when  others  do  not  see  how  he  is  indicating  it ;  just  as  a 
little  child,  when  it  is  doing  wrong  in  company,  will  under- 
stand even  a  gesture  of  its  mother,  and  not  wait  to  be 
spoken  to.  It  is  tempting  God,  when  a  man  hardens  him- 
self in  his  adversity.  And  for  a  child  of  God  to  wait  to 
be  spoken  to  more  plainly,  when  the  finger  of  God's  warn- 
ing providence  is  lifted  in  affliction,  argues  an  obstinacy  of 
temper,  which  God  must  conquer,  or  that  child  will  be  lost. 
If  God's  covenant  love  is  set  upon  him,  God  will  make  him 
learn  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffers,  or,  if  he 
does  persevere  in  his  own  way,  God  will  put  such  ingre- 
dients into  his  fancied  cup  of  happiness,  as  shall  turn  it 
into  wormwood.  . 

Temptations  or  trials,  the  endurance  of  which  an  apostle 
tells  us  is  blessed,  may  be  of  two  kinds,  inward  and  ex- 
ternal, and  without  them  a  man  may  know  nothing  of 
himself,  but  the  hidden  evils  of  his  heart  may  be  com- 
pletely concealed  from  him.  God  varies  this  discipline 
according  as  he  sees  the  state  of  his  people  and  the 
accomplishment  of  his  object  in  the  perfecting  of  their 
character,  requires.  Inward  trials  are  the  hardest  to  bear, 
and  external  trials  indeed  are  light  things,  if  a  man's 
inward  state  be  holy  and  happy,  if  he  have  the  clear 
shining  of  the  Saviour's  countenance,  and  a  sense  of  the 
approbation  of  his  God.  And  there  are  so  many  and  such 
precious  promises  made  to  those  who  are  in  affliction ;  afflic- 
tions, rightly  received,  are  so  clearly  represented  as  a 
proof  of  sonship,  and  if  endured  for  Christ's  sake,  are  so 


150  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

evidently  considered  as  the  greatest  of  blessings ;  that 
when  the  heart  is  in  the  enjoyment  and  exercise  of  God's 
love  it  is  very  easy  to  endure.  But  when  the  inward  state 
is  wrong,  when  the  soul  has  departed  from  God  and  grace 
is  declining,  then  external  trials  are  terrible.  The  mind 
is  not  at  all  prepared  for  them,  they  rouse  up  a  sense  of 
sin,  and  fill  the  soul  with  the  anguish  of  conviction,  and 
such  a  man  feels,  in  his  departure  from  God,  when  over- 
taken by  such  evils,  as  if  he  had  no  friend  or  reliance 
either  for  this  world  or  the  next. 

External  trials  in  such  a  case  are  oftentimes  the  only 
means  of  salvation,  the  means  of  awakening,  of  conviction 
and  repentance.  We  love  our  own  ease,  and  in  an  easy 
state,  if  God  lets  it  continue,  we  may  worship  our  own 
idols  without  being  aware  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  to  a 
soul  that  is  following  hard  after  God,  living  near  to  him, 
external  trials  are  a  great  help  to  its  advancement,  a  great 
assistance  to  its  graces.  External  trials  in  such  a  case  are 
sometimes  as  the  very  windows  of  heaven  to  the  soul ;  the 
light  and  blessedness  of  the  celestial  world  come  down 
through  them.  And  they  call  grace  into  exercise,  and 
strengthen  it ;  they  work  patience,  faith,  submission, 
and  all  the  graces  that  are  to  be  learned  in  no  other 
school  but  that  of  affliction.  They  are  a  great  means  of 
power  in  prayer. 

Inward  trials  are  of  very  various  kinds,  and  they  some- 
times come  even  in  answer  to  prayer.  Sometimes  God 
leaves  his  dearest  children  to  such  a  perception  and 
experience  of  the  devices  of  Satan,  the  temptations  of  his 
malice,  and  the  dreadful  evils  of  the  heart,  that  they  are 
well  nigh  overwhelmed  and  in  despair.  We  have  referred 
already  to  some  instances  of  such  experience  as  this, 
recorded  abundantly  in  the  Psalms.  And  the  fruits  of 
such  trials  are  blessed.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth 
such  temptation ;  we  mean,  endureth  it  by  fleeing  to 
Christ  with  it.  It  is  in  such  trials  that  the  loftiest  and 
most  spiritual  exercise  of  faith  is  called  for ;  and  it  is 


CHRIST     IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  151 

out  of  such  trials  that  there  arises  a  rich,  deep,  and 
lasting  experience,  with  strong  and  blessed  points  of 
Christian  character.  Such  trials  are  good  even  in  the 
commencement  of  one's  Christian  course,  better  then 
perhaps  than  ever,  for  so  they  early  teach  the  preciousness 
of  Christ  and  the  habit  of  profound  reliance  on  him,  as 
nothing  else  can.  Therefore  let  no  one  be  discouraged  in 
passing  through  such  trials.  Who  is  among  you  that 
feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his  servant, 
that  walketh  in  darkness  and  hath  no  light  ?  Let  him  trust 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  himself  upon  his  God. 
It  is  comparatively  at  an  early  stage  of  his  progress  that 
Bunyan  has  put  that  terrific  conflict  of  Christian  with 
Apollyon  in  the  Valley  of  Humiliation,  and  the  scene  of 
his  difficulties  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death  lies 
near  at  hand.  With  this  delineation  agrees  that  admirable 
hymn  of  Newton  : 

I  asked  the  Lord  that  I  might  grow 
In  faith,  and  love,  and  every  grace ; 
Might  more  of  his  salvation  know, 
And  seek  more  earnestly  his  face. 

'Tvvas  he  who  taught  me  thus  to  pray, 
And  he,  I  trust,  has  answered  prayer ; 
But  it  has  been  in  such  a  way, 
As  almost  drove  me  to  despair. 

Sometimes  a  man  is  called  to  endure  temptation  in  a 
succession  of  little  things,  that  are  more  difficult  to  be 
borne  than  great  things.  It  is  the  rarest  of  all  grace, 
which  is  carried  into  daily,  hourly  exercise  in  the  common- 
place business  and  intercourse  of  life  ;  we  are  so  disposed 
to  put  off  the  exercise  of  grace  to  great  occasions,  and  to 
let  nature  and  not  grace  have  its  perfect  work  on  all 
common  ones.  But  it  is  a  most  wise  remark  of  one  of 
the  Apocryphal  books,  He  that  despiseth  little  things,  by 
little  and  little  shall  he  fall.  Our  piety  will  be  destroyed 


152  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

by  small  temptations,  if  we  do  not  call  it  into  exercise  on 
small  occasions.  Let  this  be  remembered  in  the  common 
walks  of  life.  Let  it  be  remembered  in  the  daily  occupa- 
tions of  the  household,  and  in  all  our  intercourse  one  with 
another. 

Christian  communion  and  sympathy  is  of  great  value 
and  comfort  to  a  tempted  soul.  It  is  especially  in  spiritual 
things  that  as  iron  sharpeneth  iron,  so  a  man  sharpeneth 
the  countenance  of  his  friend.  But  there  are  cases  in 
which  a  man  hardly  dares  believe  that  ever  any  other  person 
experienced  such  assaults  and  evils  as  his  own  soul  has  to 
pass  through.  There  are  cases  in  which  he  is  very  un- 
willing to  repose  confidence  in  any  human  being,  and  can 
go  to  none  but  God.  And  sometimes  the  more  exclusively 
he  is  shut  up  to  God,  the  better. 

There  is  an  affecting  and  instructive  delineation  in  the 
picture  drawn  by  Bunyan  of  Christian  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Shadow  of  Death.  When  Christian  had  travelled  in 
this  disconsolate  condition  some  considerable  time,  he 
thought  he  heard  the  voice  of  a  man  going  before  him, 
saying,  Though  I  walk  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death  I  will  fear  no  ill,  for  thou  art  with  me.  Then 
was  he  glad,  and  that  for  these  reasons.  First,  because  he 
gathered  from  thence  that  some  who  feared  God  were  in 
this  valley  as  well  as  himself.  Secondly,  for  that  he  per- 
ceived God  was  with  them,  though  in  that  dark  and  dismal 
state ;  and  why  not,  thought  he,  with  me ;  though  by 
reason  of  the  impediment  that  attends  this  place  I  cannot 
perceive  it.  Thirdly,  for  that  he  hoped,  could  he  overtake 
them,  to  have  company  by  and  by.  So  he  went  on,  and 
called  to  him  that  was  before ;  but  he  knew  not  what  to 
answer  for  that  he  also  thought  himself  to  be  alone.  And  by 
and  by  the  day  broke.  Then  said  Christian,  "  He  hath 
turned  the  shadow  of  death  into  the  morning."  And  thus 
is  God  able  at  any  time  to  turn  the  shadow  of  death  into 
the  morning.  When  he  giveth  peace,  who  then  can  make 
trouble  ?  But  until  he  be  pleased  to  give  peace,  the  soul 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  153 

must  trust  submissively  to  him,  even  in  the  darkness. 
Because  there  seems  to  be  no  light,  but  only  darkness,  that 
may  not  be  any  positive  proof  that  God  is  not  with  the 
soul.  The  soul  may  not  be  able  to  perceive  it,  by  reason, 
as  Bunyan  expresses  it,  of  the  impediment  that  attends  the 
place ;  and  yet  God  may  be  guiding  and  blessing  the  soul, 
even  in  such  thick  darkness.  When  my  spirit  was  over- 
whelmed within  me,  said  David  in  such  a  case,  then  THOU 
knewest  my  path. 

God  of  uiy  life,  to  thee  I  call, 
Afflicted  at  thy  feet  I  fall, 
When  the  great  water-floods  prevail, 
Leave  not  my  trembling  heart  to  fail. 
Friend  of  the  friendless  and  the  faint ! 
Where  should  I  lodge  my  deep  complaint? 
Where  but  with  thee,  whose  open  door 
Invites  the  helpless  and  the  poor ! 

Did  ever  mourner  plead  with  thee 
And  thou  refuse  that  mourner's  plea? 
Does  not  the  word  still  fixed  remain 
That  none  shall  seek  thy  face  in  vain  ? 
That  were  a  grief  I  could  not  bear, 
Didst  thou  not  hear  and  answer  prayer ; 
But  a  prayer-hearing,  answering  God 
Supports  me  under  every  load. 

Fair  is  the  lot  that's  cast  for  me ; 
I  have  an  advocate  with  thee ; 
They  whom  the  world  caresses  most 
Have  no  such  privilege  to  boast. 
Poor  though  I  am,  despised,  forgot, 
Yet  God,  my  God,  forgets  me  not, 
And  he  is  safe,  and  must  succeed, 
For  whom  the  Lord  vouchsafes  to  plead 


7* 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Faith  still  put  to  the  test. — Is  it  faith  in  sight,  or  faith  in  God  ? — Three  days 
in  the  wilderness. — Light  out  of  darkness,  strength  out  of  weakness. — The 
discovery  of  God  in  self-disappointment  and  abasement. 

IT  is  a  great  thing  to  learn  to  trust  God.  "And  a  man  does 
not  learn  it,  ordinarily,  till  he  passes  through  affliction,  and 
oftentimes  he  has  to  experience  much  affliction  in  order  to 
learn.  He  has  to  be  stripped  of  his  self-reliance,  and  the 
props  and  crutches,  on  which  he  has  supported  himself 
and  his  virtues,  have  to  be  taken  away,  together  with  the 
dear  things  in  which  he  trusted  for  comfort  and  happiness ; 
and  then  it  is  to  be  seen  whether  his  soul  relies  on  God. 
A  man  may  have  the  principle  of  reliance,  but  habits  of 
reliance  are  not  to  be  formed  at  once  ;  and  so  a  man  may 
have  the  principle  of  submission,  but  the  habit  of  submis- 
sion, the  grace  of  resignation,  is  a  thing  of  time  and  dis- 
cipline and  gradual  formation.  It  is  easy  to  trust  God  in 
prosperity,  and  a  man  may  think  he  has  formed  the  habit 
of  trusting  him ;  but  let  him  be  overwhelmed  with  adver- 
sity, and  then  how  often  does  he  find  his  piety  deserting 
him,  and  that  he  has  yet  to  learn  this  simple  lesson  of 
dependence  on  God. 

We  have  said  that  inward  trials  are  sometimes  better  at 
the  very  commencement  of  one's  Christian  course  than 
ever,  more  experience  being  gained  from  them  then,  than 
ever  afterwards.  Yet  it  is  not  till  the  lapse  of  some  time, 
ordinarily,  that  the  soul  learns  to  read  and  understand 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  155 

such  trials  aright.     And  always  the  soul  is  a  learner,  as  a 
little  child,  and  even  old  lessons  are  new  ones. 

0  let  me  then  at  length  be  taught 
What  I  am  still  so  slow  to  learn, 

That  God  is  Love,  and  changes  not 
Nor  knows  the  shadow  of  a  turn. 

Sweet  truth,  and  easy  to  repeat! 
But  when  my  faith  is  sharply  tried, 

1  find  myself  a  learner  yet, 

Unskilful,  weak,  and  apt  to  slide. 

We  find  it  recorded  immediately  after  the  Exodus  of  the 
Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  that  they  went  three  days  in  the 
wilderness,  and  found  no  water.  It  was  a  sharp  and 
sudden  teaching  of  their  dependence  on  God.  Three  days 
in  the  wilderness  and  no  water!  A  multitude  of  some 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  must  have  suffered  much 
under  these  circumstances.  To  realize  their  suffering,  to 
have  an  adequate  idea  of  it,  we  should  need  to  be  put  in 
their  situation,  beneath  a  burning  sun,  a  cloudless  sky, 
surrounded  by  the  bare,  dry,  grey,  shining  desert.  Three 
days  and  no  water!  This  seemed  indeed  a  deplorable 
commencement  of  their  journey.  They  thought,  when 
God  had  brought  them  safely  through  the  Red  Sea,  that 
that  was  the  way  in  which  he  would  cause  them  to  triumph 
continually.  They  knew  very  little  of  themselves,  still  less 
of  God.  They  knew  very  little  of  God's  methods  of  disci- 
pline, very  little  of  their  own  need  of  that  discipline.  They 
could  sing  God's  praises,  on  occasion  of  a  great  deliverance, 
provided  Moses  would  prepare  an  ode  for  them ;  just  as 
the  most  careless  and  irreligious  of  men  might  pray  to  God 
with  the  voice,  if  a  form  of  prayer  were  prepared  and 
printed  for  them,  without  the  least  degree  or  beginning  of 
the  Spirit  of  prayer  in  their  hearts.  But  their  obligations 
to  God  and  their  dependence  upon  him  they  had  scarcely 
begun  to  realize.  All  the  discipline  of  faith  they  were  yet 


156  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

to  experience.  They  were  just  entering  on  a  school,  the 
lessons  of  which  were  to  be  of  forty  years'  duration.  Pro- 
bably they  thought,  when  the  Red  Sea  was  between  them 
and  their  enemies,  and  they  had  beheld  Pharaoh  and  his 
host  (for  dread  of  whom  they  had  stood  shivering)  all 
whelmed  in  the  returning  billows,  that  now  there  was  no 
more  for  them  to  do,  but  just  to  march  straight,  without 
hindrance  or  difficulty,  into  the  promised  land  of  freedom 
and  of  plenty.  Little  did  they  know  how  little  they  were 
prepared  for  it.  Little  did  they  know  what  there  was  in 
their  own  hearts. 

And  therefore,  after  the  first  triumph,  after  God  had 
brought  them  safely  out  of  Egypt,  and  across  the  Red  Sea, 
their  first  experience  was  trial  and  disappointment.  The 
course  which  they  thought  was  to  be  one  of  constant 
advancement  and  victory,  they  speedily  found  to  be  one 
of  self-mortification  and  delay.  They  plunged  at  once 
into  the  wilderness ;  not  a  wilderness  in  our  sense  of  the 
term,  which  to  them  would  have  been  comparative  security 
and  repose;  not  a  region  of  wild  woods  and  thick  pathless 
shades  of  the  undisturbed  primeval  forest ;  but  an  open, 
uninhabitable,  barren,  parched  desert,  which  to  most  of 
them,  who  had  scarcely  ever  stirred  from  the  green  banks 
of  the  Nile  in  Goshen,  must  have  been  a  strange  and 
gloomy  experience.  Such  is  the  first  disclosure  of  self  to 
a  soul  escaping  from  its  native  city  of  destruction.  Such 
is  sometimes  the  early  unexpected  experience  of  the 
converted  soul  setting  out  on  its  pilgrimage  to  heaven. 
Such,  too,  is  sometimes  the  experience  of  old  saints  in  new 
Christian  enterprises. 

And  they  wandered  on  three  days  through  this  desert, 
and  found  no  water.  They  began  to  forget  and  almost  to 
doubt  their  experience  of  God's  mercy  at  the  Red  Sea, 
though  as  yet  they  did  not  go  so  far  in  their  murmurings 
as  to  accuse  Moses  of  having  brought  them  into  the 
wilderness  to  perish  with  hunger.  But  now  they  are 
coming  to  a  green  spot,  and  certainly  there  will  be  water. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  157 

They  press  on  eagerly ;  the  report  runs  through  the  whole 
host  to  the  furthest  outskirt  of  the  multitude.  Water ! 
water !  Green  trees  and  living  water !  The  foremost 
press  to  the  fountain  ;  but  what  a  fearful  disappointment ! 
The  water  is  so  bitter  that  it  cannot  be  used  ;  nay,  perhaps 
it  is  poisonous.  And  now  the  people  begin  to  despair  and 
murmur,  for  if  they  have  not  water  they  must  die.  And 
now  again  God  interposes,  as  when  he  opened  for  them 
the  Red  Sea.  He  heals  this  bitter  fountain  in  the  desert, 
and  makes  it  sweet  for  the  thirsty  multitude.  This  is 
God's  doing,  and  thus  by  mingled  trial  and  mercy  they 
•are  to  be  taught  their  dependence  upon  God.  Their  trials 
shall  prepare  them  for  their  blessings,  and  their  blessings 
shall  prepare  them  for  their  trials,  and  in  all  things  they 
shall  know  God. 

Three  days  in  the  wilderness  and  no  water  constitutes 
one  form  of  the  trials  of  faith.  It  may  be  construed 
temporally  or  spiritually ;  but  be  it  the  deprivation  of 
expected  and  needed  blessings  either  way,  it  is  hard  to 
bear.  Be  it  water  for  the  parched  tongue,  or  water  for  the 
thirsty  soul,  it  is  terrible  to  be  without  it.  But  despair  is 
much  worse.  Famine  may  cut  the  soul  off  'from  God's 
present  mercies,  but  despair  cuts  the  soul  off  from  God. 
Bunyan's  account  of  Hopeful's  conversion  is  instructive. 
Did  you  do  as  you  were  bidden,  said  Christian,  when 
Faithful  taught  you  to  pray  ?  Yes,  over,  and  over,  and 
over.  And  did  the  Father  reveal  the  Son  to  you?  Not 
at  the  first,  nor  second,  nor  third,  nor  fourth,  nor  fifth,  no, 
nor  at  the  sixth  time  neither.  What  did  you  do  then  ? 
What !  why,  I  could  not  tell  what  to  do.  Had  you  not 
thoughts  of  leaving  off  praying  ?  Yes,  and  a  hundred 
times  twice  told.  And  what  was  the  reason  you  did  not  ? 
I  believed  that  that  was  true  which  had  been  told  me,  to 
wit,  that  without  the  righteousness  of  this  Christ,  all  the 
world  could  not  save  me  ;  and  therefore  thought  I  with 
myself,  if  I  leave  off  I  die,  and  I  can  but  die  at  the  throne 
of  grace.  And  withal  this  came  into  my  mind,  If  it  tarry, 


158  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

wait  for  it,  because  it  will  surely  come  and  will  not  tarry. 
So  I  continued  praying,  until  the  Father  showed  me  his 
Son. 

Here  for  Hopeful  were  the  three  days  in  the  wilderness 
and  no  water.  Just  thus  it  is  with  many,  Who  start  fair  from 
Egypt,  thinking  to  accomplish  all  good  things  speedily  ; 
then  comes  the  check,  the  first  trial  of  faith,  when  many 
turn  back,  like  Pliable,  at  the  first  difficult  and  painful 
experience.  But  if  present  disappointment  be  painful, 
unbelief,  despair,  and  the  turning  back  of  the  soul,  are 
perdition.  Perseverance  in  faith  loses  no  present  blessing, 
but  gains  an  eternal  crown.  t 

Bitterness  in  the  fountain  to  which  we  run  for  refresh- 
ment constitutes  another  form  of  the  trials  of  faith  on  our 
pilgrimage.  This  perhaps  is  worse  than  the  first.  It 
would  be  hard  to  choose,  but  bitter,  poisonous  water  is 
certainly  worse  than  none  at  all.  You  come  to  a  water- 
course, and  find  it  a  deceitful  brook,  gone  to  nothing, 
perished.  The  troops  of  Tema  looked,  the  companies  of 
Sheba  waited  for  them.  They  were  confounded  because 
they  had  hoped  ;  they  came  thither  and  were  ashamed. 
Such  were  Job's  friends,  and  such  was  Job's  disappoint- 
ment. So  the  reeds  on  which  we  lean  often  break  and 
pierce  us.  The  fair  apples  we  desire  to  taste  prove  ashes. 
The  distant  waters  we  thought  we  beheld,  while  travelling 
in  the  desert,  are  only  a  delusive  mirage,  a  reflection  of 
the  sky  in  the  sands  at  the  horizon.  It  is  a  great  trial 
when  this  is  the  case,  even  with  friends  and  earthly  bless- 
ings merely.  Confidence  in  an  unfaithful  man  in  time  of 
trouble  is  like  a  broken  tooth  and  a  foot  out  of  joint.  But 
it  is  a  far  greater  anguish  to  the  soul,  when  expected 
spiritual  refreshments  turn  out  to  be  naught,  when  you 
come  to  a  spiritual  fountain,  and  find  nothing  but  bitter- 
ness. Sometimes  there  is  such  a  disappointment  to  the 
soul  at  the  very  table  of  the  Lord,  sometimes  in  the  exer- 
cise of  prayer,  sometimes  in  the  Word  of  God,  sometimes 
in  the  service  of  God's  sanctuary.  Instead  of  going  from 


CHRIST     IN     THE    AFFECTIONS.  159 

strength  to  strength,  the  soul  seems  passing  from  weakness 
to  weakness.  Mine  eyes  fail  for  thy  Word,  saying,  When 
wilt  thou  comfort  me  ?  All  the  wells  that  are  digged,  the 
Philistines  fill  them  with  earth,  and  when  the  soul  thinks  it 
has  found  another  well  of  springing  water  by  digging, 
there  is  such  a  strife  for  it  or  about  it,  and  such  uncer- 
tainty in  the  possession,  that  its  name  becomes  Esek  and 
Sitnah,  contention  and  hatred.  This  assuredly  is  a  great 
trial  of  faith. 

But  all  such  forms  of  trial  are  necessary.  They  are  a 
part  of  our  discipline  at  the  hand  of  God,  and  however 
severe  they  may  seem,  they  are  a  merciful  discipline.  In 
the  course  of  every  great  enterprise  for  God  there  must  be 
difficulties.  God  himself  will  interpose  with  them,  if  man 
does  not ;  for  without  difficulties,  great  enterprises  would 
be  without  permanence  and  depth.  Difficulties  are  as  the 
ballast  to  keep  the  ship  in  trim.  They  are  the  cold  days 
that  set  the  vegetation,  when  uninterrupted  sunshine  and 
heat  would  bring  it  preternaturally  forward.  The  work 
of  setting  out  for  heaven,  and  of  finding  God,  is  a  great 
enterprise.  The  work  of  building  a  church  for  God  is  both 
temporally  and  spiritually  a  great  enterprise.  The  work 
of  establishing  and  sustaining  a  Christian  mission  is  a 
great  enterprise.  In  all  such  undertakings,  personally  and 
unitedly,  we  must  expect  difficulties  ;  and  if  they  do  not 
come  at  one  stage,  they  will  at  another.  Sometimes  they 
come  at  the  very  outset.  There  is  a  Red  Sea  to  be 
crossed  ;  and  if  God  helped  us  over  that  sea,  so  that, 
although  it  was  very  terrible  to  look  at  and  anticipate,  yet 
it  proved  nothing  in  the  crossing,  then  come  immediately 
afterwards  three  days  in  the  wilderness,  and  no  water. 
Here  is  perhaps  the  first  severe  lesson  of  faith. 

We  expected  the  wilderness,  for  we  saw  that  it  lay  right 
in  the  way  of  our  duty.  But  we  expected  water  also. 
We  thought  of  course  God  would  secure  to  us  that  pro- 
vision. We  were  ready  to  press  on  in  the  journey,  though 
it  were  a  wilderness,  a  desert ;  but  we  never  dreamed  that 


160  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

God  would  refuse  us  water,  that  he  would  leave  us  without 
that.  We  expected  encouragement  and  refreshment  by 
the  way.  Instead  of  that,  we  are  perhaps  plunged  at  once 
into  suffering.  We  expected  sight,  ancj.  God  begins  at 
once  to  teach  us  the  great  lesson  of  faith.  It  is  very 
easy,  even  for  the  carnal  mind,  to  live  half  by  faith  and 
half  by  sight.  It  is  easy  to  go  on  for  God,  when  God 
goes  on  before  us  and  for  us,  opening  the  Red  Sea  by  a 
miracle  as  fast  as  we  come  up  to  it,  and  making  water- 
springs  to  gush  out  whenever  and  wherever  we  feel  thirsty ; 
but  when  God  withdraws  his  visible  support,  and  seems  to 
leave  us  to  ourselves,  when  he  is  pleased,  indeed,  really  to 
leave  us  to  ourselves,  to  find  out  our  own  weakness,  then 
we  begin  to  discover  that  it  is  not  so  easy  living  by 
faith  as  by  sight ;  we  begin  to  discover  how  little  true  faith 
we  possess  ;  we  are  even  inclined  to  stop  in  our  journey, 
and  not  go  a  step  by  faith,  till  we  have  sight  for  faith  to 
walk  by.  The  ability  to  walk  in  simple  reliance  on  God 
alone,  and  his  promise,  is  a  great  ability  ;  it  is  not  the 
earliest  thing,  by  any  means,  but  contrariwise,  a  very 
advanced  and  tried  grace  in  Christian  experience. 

Yet  we  talk  much  of  walking  by  faith,  not  sight ;  we 
propose  it  as  the  very  simplest  thing  in  the  Christian  life  ; 
we  put  it  forth  as  a  spiritual  truism.  There  are  different 
kinds  of  sight,  and  we  may  be  just  walking  by  one  kind, 
when  we  think  we  are  walking  by  faith  ;  because  another 
kind,  the  kind  to  which  we  have  been  accustomed,  is  not 
with  us.  There  is  a  spiritual  sight,  as  well  as  a  spiritual 
faith  ;  a  sight  and  experience  of  God's  comforts,  as  well  as 
a  faith  in  God's  promises.  Now  it  is  easy  to  walk  when 
God's  comforts  surround  the  soul,  when  the  soul  mounts 
up  as  on  eagles'  wings,  when  God,  as  it  were,  takes  the 
soul  by  the  hand,  and  hurries  it  forward  as  the  angels  took 
Lot,  and  hurried  him  out  of  Sodom  to  Zoar.  When  "  the 
candle  of  the  Lord  "  shines  bright  upon  us,  when  he  fills 
our  hearts  with  his  love,  and  shows  us  the  glory,  certainty, 
and  blissfulness  of  his  covenant,  this  is  sight  rather  than 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  161 

faith,  this  is  experience  and  enjoyment ;  it  is  the  "  earnest 
of  the  Spirit."  It  is  easy  to  believe  God,  when  we  thus 
see  and  feel  the  presence  of  God,  when  he  sends  forth  the 
Spirit  of  his  dear  Son  into  our  hearts,  and  makes  us  cry, 
Abba,  Father.  But  when  those  sensible  comforts  are  with- 
held or  withdrawn,  then  to  rely  upon  God's  promises,  and 
go  forward  in  duty  just  as  if  we  experienced  them,  that  is 
true  faith,  great  faith,  unmingled  faith. 

And  that  is  the  faith  taught  by  trial.  Blessings  will 
teach  gratitude,  but  not  this  kind  of  faith.  Blessings, 
indeed,  are  so  apt  to  accustom  the  soul  to  sight,  that 
except  by  the  very  peculiar  care  and  discipline  of  God's 
grace,  a  long  uninterrupted  continuance  of  them  unfits  the 
soul  for  faith  ;  so  that  when  the  accustomed  tide  of  bless- 
ings begins  to  fail,  and  a  discipline  of  want  or  darkness 
intervenes,  the  soul  begins  to  imagine  itself  deserted  of 
God,  begins  to  faint,  forgetful  of  the  exhortation  which 
speaketh  as  unto  children  concerning  the  rebukes  of  God ; 
perhaps  stops  short  in  the  course  of  duty,  just  as  if  God's 
comforts  and  not  God,  were  its  guide,  its  support,  its  index, 
and  its  impulse. 

But  that  is  faith  in  sight,  not  faith  in  God.  Faith  in 
God  must  be  taught,  as  well  as  rejoicing  and  gratitude  in 
God's  comforts.  The  soul  must  be  taught  to  toil  on  in  the 
wilderness,  without  repining,  water  or  no  water,  confident 
in  God.  For  this  purpose,  to  teach  this  habit  of  faith,  the 
three  days  in  the  wilderness  without  water  may  be  needed 
at  the  very  outset ;  and  it  may  be  necessary  for  God  to 
repeat  them,  cutting  off  the  soul  from  every  earthly  and 
sensible  stay,  and  even  from  every  sensible  spiritual  stay, 
and  throwing  it  entirely  and  only  upon  God  and  his  pro- 
mises. This  is  the  faith,  of  which  the  example  is  so 
beautiful  in  Habakkuk.  "  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not 
blossom,  neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ;  tffe  labor  of 
the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the 
flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no 
herd  in  the  stalls  ;  yet  will  I  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will  joy 


162  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

in  the  God  of  my  salvation."  This  is  faith  in  God,  and 
not  merely  in  God's  blessings  ;  it  is  faith  and  joy  in  God, 
irrespective  of  his  blessings. 

This  is  the  faith  inculcated  in  Isaiah :  "  Who  is  among 
you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his 
servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light  ?  Let 
him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his 
God."  Yes  !  when  he  can  see  and  feel  nothing  of  good, 
then  let  him  trust  in  the  name  and  attributes  of  goodness, 
even  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  which  is  pledged  for  his 
deliverance  ;  so  doing,  he  trusts  in  the  reality  of  goodness, 
and  is  stayed  upon  his  God.  Let  Jehovah,  though  invisible, 
let  God  in  Christ,  though  now  hidden  for  a  season,  yet  the 
God  of  mercy,  of  redemption,  of  salvation  to  sinners,  be 
the  stay  and  support  of  the  soul.  But  let  it  not  run,  in 
the  midst  of  spiritual  darkness,  to  sensible  supports,  or  to 
the  guidance  and  comfort  of  lights  and  fires  manufactured 
for  that  purpose,  and  not  of  God.  Let  it  not  run  to  self- 
gratification,  or  to  men's  promises  or  flatteries,  or  to 
anything  out  of  God's  Word.  For  God  hath  said,  by  the 
side  of  the  same  command  for  the  soul  to  be  stayed  upon 
himself,  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire  (in  such  a  time  of 
darkness),  and  compass  yourselves  about  with  sparks  (your 
own  poor,  miserable  fire-works)  ;  walk  in  the  light  of  your 
fire,  and  in  the  sparks  that  ye  have  kindled  ;  but  to  do  that 
is  your  delusion  and  destruction  ;  it  may  be  rejoicing  in 
self  for  a  little  time,  but  the  end  is  death  ;  for  this  shall 
ye  have  at  my  hands  ;  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow. 

Sorrow  indeed  it  is  to  be  left  of  God,  left  to  self,  sinful, 
miserable  self !  But  this  trust  in  the  simple  name  of  God 
as  revealed  in  his  Word  is  faith,  genuine  faith,  acceptable 
faith.  It  is  faith  in  God,  not  merely  in  God's  comforts. 
It  will  be^seen  at  once  that  this  comprises  submission,  a 
disposition  sweetly  resigned  to  God's  will.  If  He  leave 
but  himself,  the  afflicted,  sorrowing  soul  says,  he  may  take 
what  he  will  away.  And  he  cannot  take  away  himself. 
His  Word  forbids  that.  He  has  never  promised  in  his 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  163 

Word  any  particular  comforts,  at  the  particular  times  of 
my  will ;  but  he  has  promised  himself  to  all  who  put  their 
trust  in  him ;  and  come  what  may,  my  soul  resteth  upon 
God.  My  soul,  rest  thou  only  upon  God,  for  my  expecta- 
tion and  my  hope  are  from  him ! 

Now  this  is  a  thing  that  we  learn  only  from  experience ; 
for  ordinarily  we  set  out  with  very  different  expectations. 
We  know  the  theory  of  faith,  and  we  speculate  well,  and 
mean  to  act  accordingly  ;  but  when  trial  and  difficulty 
come,  we  are  very  much  surprised  at  it.  "  By  and  by  they 
are  offended''  Particular  navigation  on  the  seas  of  life 
by  God's  Word  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  study 
of  spiritual  trigonometry  and  quadrants  at  school.  When 
overtaken  by  a  storm,  instead  of  saying,  Now  is  the  time 
foretold,  when  God  would  exercise  my  faith,  now  is  the 
time  to  prove  my  trust  to  be  in  him,  and  not  in  calm 
weather,  we  say,  How  shall  I  get  rid  of  this  trial  ?  How 
clear  up  this  storm,  or  fly  from  it  ?  We  think  too  much 
of  present  quietude  and  peace,  look  too  much  after  it,  and 
regret  its  loss  too  bitterly.  Like  Jonah,  we  are  apt  to  be 
exceedingly  glad  of  the  gourd  when  it  comes,  and  exceed- 
ingly angry  when  it  is  taken  away. 

But  God  does  never  too  long  continue  his  trying  disci- 
pline ;  it  is  not  all  work  and  no  play,  but  simply  toil  and  trial 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  faith,  arid  when  that  is  somewhat 
accomplished,  God's  wisdom  and  love  are  glad  to  bestow 
blessings.  He  healed  the  fountain  of  Marah  in  the  desert, 
when  his  people  could  not  drink  of  it  until  he  had  poured 
his  blessing  upon  the  waters.  It  was  infinitely  better  to 
have  bitter  water  with  God's  healing,  than  the  best  of 
water  without  God.  The  very  trials  and  disappointments 
of  a  Christian,  if  God  comes  with  them,  are  better  than  all 
the  blessings  of  the  worldling.  It  was  better  to  have  the 
disappointment  at  first,  and  God's  interposition  afterwards, 
than  to  have  found  a  sweet  fountain  at  once.  And  then, 
at  the  next  move,  they  were  brought  of  God  to  a  most 


164  GRACE  AND  TRUTH, 

refreshing  and  desirable  station,  where  were  twelve  wells 
of  water,  and  three-score  and  ten  palrn  trees. 

Their  bitter  disappointment  at  first,  and  God's  merciful 
interposition,  had  begun  to  teach  themjthat  everything  of 
good  must  come  from  God.     They  were  beginning  to  learn 
this  great  lesson  of  faith ;  and  now  these  twelve  wells  and 
seventy  palm  trees  were  from  him  also ;  and  his  previous 
discipline  with  them  made  them  feel  this.     And  if  they 
should  again  forget  this   dependence,  God  would    again 
have  to  bring  them  to  their  senses  by  severe  trial.     It  is 
one  of  the  lessons  of  faith  the  most  seldom  or  at  least 
perhaps  the  latest  learned,  and  also  it  is  one  of  the  greatest 
proofs  of  faith,  to  receive  our  daily  mercies  as  from  God. 
This  is  the  life  of  faith  amidst  sense.     What  are  our  daily 
mercies,  but  daily  miracles,  daily  and  remarkable  interposi- 
tions of  God's  mercy,  preventing  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature  ?     We  need  to  see  and  to  feel  this.     The  ordinary 
course,  seeing  that  we  are  sinners,  would  be  for  God's 
wrath  to  descend  upon  us,  and  all  our  mercies  to  be  taken 
away.     It  is  quite  out  of  the  course  of  nature  for  us,  a 
rebellious  race,  to  receive  mercies,  and  it  is  only  by  God's 
interposition  in  Christ  that  we  do  receive  them ;  a  greater 
miracle   by   far,    than    when  God  interposed  to  heal  the 
fountain  in  the  desert.     Justice  to  the  full  would  be  the 
course  of  nature,  but  the  supernatural  cross  intervenes, 
and  miracles  of  mercy  are  wrought  for  us.     Our  life  is  a 
perpetual  miracle.     It  is  a  proof  of  faith  to  feel  this,  and  it 
is  a  blessed  life  of  faith  to  live  thus  upon  God. 

But  the  things  we  are  familiar  with  seem  things  of 
course ;  we  lose  the  sense  of  novelty,  and  when  that  is 
gone,  of  God's  interposition.  While  that  sense  of  novelty 
lasts,  blessings  may  seem  something  miraculous.  And  if 
we  could  carry  into  life  only  a  child's  sense  of  the  marvel- 
lous, we  should  have  more  faith,  we  should  see  God  more 
clearly.  But  we  lose  the  sense  of  freshness  in  God's 
mercies,  and  then  the  sense  of  God.  Just  so  it  was  with 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  165 

the  Hebrews.  Forty  years,  every  morning,  they  found  the 
ground  covered  with  manna  for  their  food.  They  almost 
ceased  to  think  of  it  as  a  miracle.  And  indeed  our  ex- 
perience of  God's  mercy  in  every  way  is  almost  as  miracu- 
lous as  theirs  of  God's  daily  manna.  But  after  a  while  it 
becomes  so  familiar,  that  we  almost  cease  to  remember 
God  in  it.  Yet  we  ought  to  live  upon  God,  and  not  by 
bread  alone  ;  we  ought  to  see  God  in  all  our  mercies. 
They  are  given  to  lead  us  to  God,  given  as  links  of  inter- 
course with  him,  given  as  a  discipline,  leading  to  some- 
thing better.  ;  • 

The  purpose  of  these  mercies,  especially  our  spiritual 
mercies,  is  not  so  much  present  enjoyment,  as  strength  to 
go  on.  God's  love,  in  this  world,  is  a  discipline.  The 
Mount  of  Transfiguration,  if  we  are  admitted  to  it,  is  not 
a  place  to  stay  in,  but  to  be  refreshed  in,  for  the  trials  and 
duties  of  our  pilgrimage.  There  may  be  an  encampment, 
but  that  is  all.  We  must  strike  our  tents,  and  go  on. 
Our  Blessed  Lord  said,  as  he  was  about  to  be  betrayed 
into  the  hands  of  sinners,  and  just  as  he  was  establishing 
the  sacred  sacramental  institution  as  a  gift  of  remem- 
brance, of  refreshment,  of  strength,  of  spiritual  life,  for  his 
church  in  all  ages,  With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this 
passover  with  you,  before  I  suffer.  May  we  not  suppose 
that  with  this  desire  of  such  solemn  and  sweet  communion 
with  those  whom  Christ  so  tenderly  loved,  there  was 
mingled  the  feeling  that  that  sacred  season  and  ordinance 
itself  celebrated  at  that  hour,  would  prove,  even  for  him,  a 
preparation  and  support  for  the  great  conflict  and  agony 
even  unto  death,  on  which  he  was  now  to  enter  for  their 
sakes ! 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Faith  an  in-working  law,  with  the  obedience  voluntary  ;  not  a  despotism,  with 
the  obedience  compulsory  or  irresistible. — God  working  in  man  both  to  will 
and  to  do. — Deceitfulness  and  danger  of  the  idea  of  perfection  attained. 

THE  only  true  theory  of  our  mental  philosophy  is  that 
which  represents  the  will  as  co-present,  and  co-active  in 
all  the  movements  of  the  understanding  and  the  affections. 
There  can  be  no  separation ;  otherwise,  the  mind  is 
insane.  Our  whole  character,  our  whole  habit,  style,  and 
continued  activity  of  being,  are  voluntary  ;  nor  is  this 
voluntariness  in  the  least  intermitted  or  suspended  by  the 
operations  of  Divine  Grace,  no  more  than  the  current  of 
a  river  is  intermitted,  when  its  channel,  and  perhaps  its 
properties,  are  entirely  changed.  It  may  have  flowed 
muddy,  and  now  flows  clear ;  it  may  have  flowed  North, 
towards  the  pole,  and  now  flows  South,  towards  the 
tropics  ;  but  the  current  and  its  law  of  activity  are  the 
same.  And  so  it  is  with  the  everlasting,  indestructible 
activity  of  our  personal  free  will.  It  is  never  so  active  as 
when  God  acts  in  it,  and  is  the  fountain  of  its  power. 

So  Paul  says,  in  Colossians  i.  29,  in  allusion  to  the 
advancement  of  the  work  of  God's  grace  in  men's  souls, 
"  Whereunto  I  also  labor,  striving  according  to  his  work- 
ing, which  worketh  in  me  mightily."  There  is  in  this  pas- 
sage, taken  in  connexion  with  two  other  grand  illustrious 
passages  from  Paul's  Epistles,  a  remarkable  epitome  of  the 
way  of  God's  grace  with  man's  will,  God's  sovereignty 
with  man's  free  agency,  God's  Omnipotence  with  man's 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  167 

co-operation.  Paul  has,  more  distinctly  than  any  other 
sacred  writer,  brought  these  two  things  together,  shown 
the  point  where  these  two  seas  meet  and  become  one ;  and 
he  has  illustrated  the  same  in  his  own  experience.  In 
Philippians  ii.  12,  13,  he  states  the  theory  of  Divine  Grace 
under  the  form  of  a  command.  "  Work  out  your  own 
salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  who  work- 
eth  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do,  of  his  good  pleasure." 
In  1st  Corinthians  xv.  10,  he  gives  a  striking  commentary 
upon,  and  illustration  of,  this  theory,  from  his  own  ex- 
perience, "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am  ;  and  his 
grace,  which  was  bestowed  upon  me,  was  not  in  vain ;  but 
I  labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all ;  yet  not  I,  but  the 
grace  of  God  which  was  with  me."  Colossians  i.  29,  the 
verse  before  referred  to,  presents  the  same  idea  in  a 
somewhat  different  form.  Add  to  these  passages  the  ex- 
hortation in  2d  Corinthians  vi.  1,  "  We  then,  as  workers 
together  with  Him,  beseech  you  also  that  ye  receive  not 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain  ;"  and  we  have  a  very  clear  and 
comprehensive  view  of  God's  great  method  in  the  work  of 
grace  ;  a  method  infinitely  wise  and  condescending,  not 
only  of  regenerating,  but  of  sanctifying,  educating  grace ; 
not  only  of  imparting  good  dispositions,  but  of  training  the 
soul  into  them,  and  in  them,  as  voluntary  habits. 

God's  way  of  blessing  the  soul  is  in  making  it  holy.  But 
holiness  is  not  a  made  thing,  but  a  voluntary  life,  and  an 
active  experience ;  a  gradual,  growing  life,  and  an  ex- 
perience from  less  to  greater.  This  life  and  experience 
are  all  from  God,  and  the  regenerated  and  sanctified  soul 
is  his  creation.  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new 
creature ;  old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold  all  things  are 
become  new  ;  and  all  things  are  of  God."  Yet  all  things 
are  not  of  God  in  such  an  exclusive  sense  that  some  of 
them  are  not  also  of  man  ;  not  of  man  apart  from  God,  but 
of  God  in  man,  and  of  man  co-operating  with  God,  by 
God's  own  Spirit  dwelling  and  working  in  man.  Holiness 
is  a  habit,  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  voluntary  in 


168  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

man,  at  every  step  and  degree  in  its  progress.  It  cannot 
be  merely  God's  gift,  but  it  must  be  also  the  soul's  own 
life  ;  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  but  still  the  soul's 
own  life,  and  not  another's.  And  yet,jin  another  view,  it 
not  only  can  be,  but  is,  merely  the  gift  of  God,  having  no 
other  possible  origin,  source,  or  sustaining  power  but 
God's  ;  and  yet  it  is  not  God's  gift  as  an  endowment 
handed  to  the  soul  out  of  heaven,  but  as  a  life,  quickened 
and  wakened  within  the  soul,  by  the  indwelling  of  God's 
Spirit,  a  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus ;  a  law, 
not  a  despotism  ;  a  principle  of  freedom,  not  a  bondage. 

Hence  results  the  gradual  method  of  God's  grace,  for  he 
will  proceed  no  further  than  the  voluntary  habit  and  co- 
operating energy  of  the  soul  proceed  with  him.  Hence 
the  fact  that  our  own  expectations  are  often  disappointed 
and  astounded  in  observing  and  experiencing  the  discipline 
of  God  with  our  own  souls.  Perhaps  we  pray  earnestly 
for  grace,  and  are  astonished  that  our  prayers  are  not 
answered,  when  we  find,  afterwards,  that  God  was  really 
answering  them,  by  drawing  us  on  to  more  prayer,  and 
exciting  within  us  those  mighty  desires,  which,  in  some 
respects  in  our  own  view,  the  stronger  they  grow,  the  less 
they  seem  to  be  answered,  for  the  more  the  soul  sees  the 
boundlessness  of  the  heights  and  depths  of  glory  before  it, 
and  the  greatness  of  its  own  deficiencies.  Indeed,  the 
more  the  soul  longs  to  know  what  is  the  length,  and  depth, 
and  breadth,  and  height,  of  the  love  of  Christ,  the  more  it 
finds  that  that  love  passeth  knowledge  ;  so  that,  though  it 
seems  as  if  prayer  were  unanswered  directly,  yet  by  the 
very  discipline  of  the  heart  in  prayer,  by  the  very  urgency 
and  vastness  of  its  desires,  it  is  being  filled,  or  preparing  to 
be  filled,  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  Holiness  is  becom- 
ing the  soul's  habit,  through  the  very  desire  after  holiness ; 
desires  and  attempts  being  nearly  all  we  can  have  in  this 
life,  which  is  a  life  of  active  labor  after  God,  and  for  God, 
not  of  rest  in  the  possession  of  God.  I  shall  be  satisfied 
when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness  ;  and  I  must  be  satisfied 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  169 

now  with  being  enabled  and  drawn  on  by  grace  to  labor 
after  it.  There  is  thus  a  ceaseless  spiritual  exercise 
within  the  soul,  a  life  developed,  a  passing  of  theoretical 
truth  into  practical  experience,  a  formation  of  the  soul's 
habit  of  working,  while  God  is  working  in  the  soul,  both  to 
will  and  to  do. 

I  thought,  says  the  soul,  in  my  romantic  dreams  of 
heaven  without  toil  and  suffering,  without  the  need  of 
purifying  fires  endured,  that  my  path  was  to  be  all  the  way 
through  the  land  Beulah.  I  never  dreamed  of  the  crucible, 
nor  of  the  mortifying  discoveries  of  dross,  instead  of  Christ 
— dross  which  must  rise  to  the  surface  before  it  could  be 
removed,  and  which,  in  so  rising  to  be  removed,  might 
conceal  Christ  from  the  soul,  even  while  it  was  the  virtue 
of.  Christ's  grace  in  the  soul  that  was  separating  the  dross 
from  it.  To  me  it  seemed  all  dross,  when  I  was  expecting 
solid  gold  and  silver.  I  thought  my  Lord  would  new- 
create  me  at  once  into  a  jewel,  without  the  fires  and  files 
and  cutting  instruments  of  such  sharp  discipline. 

I  thought  that  in  some  favored  hour 
At  once  he'd  answer  my  request, 
And  by  his  love's  constraining  power 
Subdue  my  sins  and  give  me  rest. 

But  how  can  all  this  be  done  ?  God  must  make  the 
soul  itself  the  instrument  in  all  this,  if  he  would  have  the 
holiness  of  the  soul  to  be  a  habit,  and  not  an  exotic,  set  as 
it  were  in  a  hot-house.  The  natural  soil,  in  the  air  and 
climate  of  this  world,  must  produce  the  plant,  which  God 
sows,  which  God  causes  to  spring  up,  which  God  waters, 
if  the  plant  would  live  and  thrive.  Or,  if  it  is  too  much 
to  say  that  the  natural  soil  must  produce  it,  we  must  say 
at  least  that  it  must  be  produced  by  grace  in  the  natural 
soil,  and  in  spite  of  it,  and  it  must  be  able  to  grow  under 
all  varieties  of  air  and  climate,  or  it  will  never  be  fit  to  be 
transplanted  to  heaven.  The  grace  which  is  not  good  for 
conflict  here,  will  not  be  fit  for  rest  hereafter. 

8 


170  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

God  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do ;  a  complete,  thorough, 
continuing  habit  and  life,  begun  from  within.  The  clock 
must  be  one  that  goes  by  inward  machinery ;  not  the  mere 
face  of  a  clock,  by  which  the  mastqr  must  stand  himself, 
and  turn  the  hands,  according  to  his  own  time,  that  they 
may  seem  right.  They  must  go  themselves,  by  the 
working  of  the  main-spring.  So  the  renewed  creature's 
holiness  must  be  a  clock  that  goes,  a  holiness  that  lives 
from  Christ  living  in  it,  a  life  and  not  an  imitation,  a 
growth  from  within,  and  not  a  mere  index  from  abroad ;  it 
must  be  a  labor,  as  Paul  says,  according  to  his  working, 
which  worketh  in  me  mightily. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  great  deal  of  hard  work,  which  the 
soul  must  encounter  and  endure  in  the  process  of  growth 
in  grace,  under  the  discipline  of  God  in  answer  to  prayer, 
and  in  becoming  holy.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  hard 
work,  as  we  have  said,  which  the  soul  prays  for,  when  it 
asks  the  Lord  that  it  may  grow  in  faith  and  love  and 
every  grace.  Possibly  the  soul  is  even  praying  for  great 
trials.  The  Hebrews  cried  to  God  for  deliverance  from 
their  bondage  ;  they  were  really  asking  for  all  the  perils 
and  trials  of  the  wilderness.  God  knows  the  end  from  the 
beginning  ;  we  do  not.  He  knows  every  step  of  the  way 
beforehand ;  we  do  not.  He  says,  Rise  up  and  walk,  and 
you  shall  come  to  a  bright  palace,  and  sweet  gardens,  and 
running  streams.  We  rise  up  and  walk,  and  lo !  we  come  to 
what  seems  a  boundless  desert,  and  we  see  as  yet,  nothing 
of  the  palace,  nor  the  sweet  gardens,  nor  the  flowing 
waters,  and  our  souls  are  much  discouraged  because  of  the 
way,  and  we  faint  for  thirst,  and  are  ready  to  die  in  the 
wilderness ;  and  still  God  says,  Walk  on,  and  you  shall 
come  to  the  palace. 

Now  we  might  have  known  at  first,  had  we  known  any- 
thing of  our  own  hearts,  that  we  should  get  into  the  desert, 
that  the  desert  lay  between  us  and  the  sweet  gardens,  and 
the  palace,  and  the  living  fountains.  But  God  does  not  say, 
Rise  up  and  walk,  and  you  shall  come  to  a  great  desert ; 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  171 

for  if  he  did,  we  should  never  set  out ;  but  he  says,  Come 
to  the  sweet  rest !  And  when,  in  obedience  and  faith  and 
•hope,  we  have  risen  up  and  lost  ourselves  in  the  desert, 
then  he  lets  us  know  that  it  was  necessary,  before  we 
could  come  to  the  place  of  our  rest,  that  he  should  lead  us 
through  the  wilderness,  to  prove  us  and  show  us  all  that 
was  in  our  hearts,  and  that,  without  such  disciplinary 
wanderings  and  discoveries,  we  never  could  come  to  the 
palace,  nor  be  fitted  to  go  in  at  its  gates. 

There  is,  we  say  again,  at  the  end  of  this  prayer,  which 
the  soul  of  the  Pilgrim  sends  forth  for  grace,  for  God  to 
work  his  work  in  the  soul  with  divine  power  and  glory,  a 
great,  and  often  intense  conflict  and  labor.  There  is  the 
Hill  Difficulty,  over  which  that  prayer  is  sure  to  lead  us, 
in  climbing  which,  the  soul  seems  sometimes  as  if  it  would 
fall  and  die  from  very  weakness  and  weariness.  Bunyan's 
Christian,  in  going  up  that  hill,  set  out  almost  with  run- 
ning, so  full  was  he  of  zeal  and  hope,  of  animation  and 
impulse.  But  he  soon  got  to  walking,  and  thence  fell  to 
climbing  upon  his  hands  and  knees,  and  that  with  such 
weariness,  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  could  not  go  on.  Now 
here  is  imaged  a  period  of  discipline,  which  every  soul 
sooner  or  later  encounters,  in  which  perhaps  the  very  sim- 
plest duties  of  the  Christian  pilgrimage  are  irksome  ;  when 
the  soul  cleaveth  unto  the  dust  and  melteth  for  heaviness, 
or  is  become  like  a  bottle  in  the  smoke,  and  begins  to  think 
that  it  never  knew  what  were  the  very  beginnings  of 
divine  life ;  when  even  prayer  is  a  fatigue,  so  that  to  take 
step  after  step  is  like  climbing  a  savage,  inaccessible 
mountain,  or  like  travelling  on  one's  hands  and  knees  up 
the  pyramids. 

And  what  now  shall  the  soul  do  ?  Will  it  give  up  for 
weariness  and  weakness,  and  say  I  can  go  no  further  ? 
Is  it  not  the  very  trial  of  one's  growth  in  grace  now,  to 
go  directly  to  God  with  this  weariness,  and  cast  the  bur- 
den on  him,  and  even  while  disinclined  to  prayer,  to  pray 
the  more  earnestly  for  God's  assistance  ?  It  was  as  bright 


172  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

a  proof  as  could  be  given  of  David's  growth  in  grace, 
when,  though  compelled  to  cry  out,  My  soul  melteth  for 
heaviness,  we  find  him  at  the  throne  of  grace  pleading  for 
the  divine  mercy.  His  importunity  ifi  such  a  case  is  a 
greater  proof  of  grace,  than  his  heaviness  is  of  the  absence 
of  grace.  Ah  yes  !  the  very  trial  of  grace,  and  the  pro- 
cess of  growth  in  grace  now  in  such  a  case,  is,  not  to  have 
bright  hope  and  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  but  to  climb 
on,  even  in  faintness  and  gloom,  to  keep  climbing,  though 
ready  to  die,  faint  yet  pursuing  ;  and,  that  trial  success- 
fully and  faithfully  gone  through,  the  growth  in  grace  is 
far  greater,  than  if  an  equal  period  of  time  had  been  spent 
in  a  sunshiny  quiet  sweet  walk  beside  still  waters  in  the 
green  pastures  of  salvation.  Do  you  think,  O  David,  that 
you  are  any  better  in  the  23d  Psalm  than  you  are  in 
the  88th  ?  Any  better  when  you  can  say,  He  leadeth 
me  in  green  pastures,  than  when  you  have  to  say,  While 
I  suffer  thy  terrors  I  am  distracted  ?  Are  you  really  grow- 
ing in  grace  faster  in  the  green  pastures  than  under  the 
terrors  ?  Why,  on  the  contrary,  you  will  find  that  the 
change  here  is  of  God's  discipline,  not  of  your  goodness, 
and  that  the  submissive  endurance  of  God's  terrors 
requires  much  more  of  faith  and  patience,  and  indeed 
almost  every  grace,  than  a  walk  in  green  pastures. 

And  do  you  think,  O  man  of  God,  who  art  rejoicing  in 
the  light  of  his  countenance,  and  walking  and  leaping  and 
praising  God,  that  you  are  any  better  Christian,  with  your 
light  and  peace  and  joy,  or  any  more  growing  Christian, 
than  the  poor,  dejected,  weary,  weeping  traveller  beside 
you,  who  is  ready  to  sit  down  and  die  with  a  broken  heart 
in  the  midst  of  the  Hill  Difficulty  ?  Aye,  you  are  very 
apt  to  think  so.  And  he  that  is  ready  to  slip  with  his 
feet  is  as  a  lamp  despised  in  the  thought  of  him  that  is  at 
ease.  But  very  much  mistaken  you  are  indeed.  And  the 
world  is  very  apt  to  think  so  ;  but  all  is  not  gold  that 
glitters  ;  neither,  because  the  mineral  beside  you  seems 
just  now  almost  all  earth,  is  it  certain  but  that  one  of  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  173 

most  costly  of  heaven's  jewels  is  coming  out  of  it,  when 
God  has  worked  upon  it  a  while  longer. 

And  do  you  think,  poor,  faint-hearted,  discouraged 
pilgrim,  because  you  are  bowed  down  now,  and  step  after 
step  in  your  pilgrimage  ^is  not  only  without  comfort,  joy, 
peace,  but  even  with  great  weariness,  weakness,  and  irk- 
someness,  that  therefore  God  has  deserted  you,  that  he  has 
not  heard  your  prayer,  that  you  will  never  reach  heaven, 
never  have 'either  the  possession  or  the  evidences  of  grace  ? 
Aye,  we  are  very  apt  to  think  so,  and  to  seek  for  comfort 
rather  than  patience ;  but  still,  your  present  stage  in  the 
pilgrimage  may  be  further  on  towards  the  perfect  day  of 
heaven,  than  that  of  him  who  is  just  now  running  like  an 
arrow.  At  any  rate,  if  you  hold  on  your  way,  and  still 
labor,  step  after  step,  crag  after  crag,  in  this  difficult  pas- 
sage, God  is  causing  you  to  grow  in  grace,  and  preparing 
you  for  a  comfort  and  peace  that  shall  not  be  transitory, 
but  abiding  for  ever.  For  the  Lord  will  not  cast  off  for 
ever,  but  though  he  cause  grief,  yet  will  he  have  compas- 
sion, according  to  the  multitude  of  his  mercies.  When  a 
man  is  bearing  the  yoke  of  his  God  upon  him,  he  sitteth 
alone  and  keepeth  silence,  or  perhaps  he  saith,  My  strength 
and  my  hope  is  perished  from  the  Lord.  But  it  is  good 
that  a  man  should  both  hope  and  quietly  wait  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Lord. 

This  view  of  the  Christian  life  is  one  that  should  pre- 
vent discouragement,  and  excite  to  great  perseverance, 
even  though  now  for  a  season,  if  need  be,  you  are  in 
heaviness  through  manifold  temptations.  If  so,  it  is  only 
that  the  trial  of  your  faith,  being  much  more  precious  than 
of  gold  that  perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire,  may  be 
found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  need  bs  is  exceedingly  precious  and 
encouraging  ;  this  is  the  way  God  must  take  with  you  ;  it 
is  a  need  be  on  your  account,  not  on  his  ;  a  need  be  by 
reason  of  your  weakness  and  of  his  great  goodness  ;  and 
if  you  persevere  waiting  upon  him,  your  heaviness,  under 


174  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

such  circumstances,  is  quite  as  good  a  seal  and  proof  of 
your  sonship,  of  your  belonging  to  God,  as  another  per- 
son's rapturous  enjoyment  under  different  circumstances. 
Only  be  anxious  to  please  Christ ;  onty  wait  on  him.  And 
remember  that  when  you  prayed  that  God  would  make 
you  holy,  you  did  really  pray  that  he  would  take  whatever 
means  might  be  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
prayer.  When  you  send  for  a  physician,  you  expect  that 
he  will  put  you  on  some  course  of  treatment ;  and  the 
course  may  be  longer  or  shorter,  easier  or  more  difficult, 
according  to  the  nature  of  your  case  ;  but  you  do  not  give 
up  in  despair,  or  conclude  that  he  does  not  know  your 
case,  or  does  not  design  your  restoration,  because  the 
medicine  you  take  to-day  does  not  restore  you  to  health 
to-morrow.  Perhaps  even  a  long  voyage,  and  a  journey 
among  the  mountains,  may  be  necessary  for  you. 

And  let  it  be  remembered  that  God  has  particular  forms 
of  discipline  requisite  for  the  production  of  particular 
forms  of  faith  in  the  soul.  And  indeed  he  varies  it  very 
much  according  to  the  different  stations  he  intends  his 
children  to  occupy,  and  the  work  he  has  for  them  to  per- 
form. As  in  this  world  the  education  of  one  son  in  the 
household  for  a  farmer,  another  for  a  merchant,  another 
for  a  teacher,  and  another  for  a  lawyer,  will  in  some 
respects  be  very  different ;  so  it  is  with  God's  dealings 
with  his  people  ;  no  doubt  they  are  varied,  according  to 
the  work  which  he  means  to  accomplish  by  them,  and  the 
place  in  his  kingdom  which  he  will  have  them  occupy. 
One  stone  is  to  be  set  in  this  place,  another  in  that ;  and 
they  must  be  shaped  and  cut  and  polished  according  to 
their  intended  setting. 

It  may  seem  gloomy  and  forbidding  to  say  that  the 
Christian,  in  praying  for  growth  in  grace,  prays  for  much 
hard  work  in  the  pilgrimage,  not  comfort,  and  perhaps  for 
no  little  trial.  But  who,  in  his  senses,  expects  to  find,  all 
the  way,  green  pastures  and  a  flowery  road  to  heaven  ? 
The  amount  of  trial  shall  be  as  God  pleases,  who  will  try 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  175 

no  child  of  his  above  that  he  is  able  to  bear,  but  will,  with 
the  trial,  send  the  needed  strength  to  bear  it,  or  make  a 
way  of  escape.  But  the  discipline  itself  is  essential,  as 
the  foundation  of  the  full  experience  of  God's  goodness. 
That  was  a  beautiful  and  most  instructive  fable  of  Esop, 
where  the  dying  old  man,  who  knew  his  sons  were  much 
disposed  to  indolence,  leaving  them  a  farm  to  cultivate, 
called  them  to  his  bedside,  and  told  them  that  in  a  certain 
portion  of  one  of  his  fields  there  was  a  great  treasure  hid- 
den, and  they  must  find  it  out.  So  they  tilled  every  part 
of  the  farm  with  such  extraordinary  care  to  find  the 
treasure,  that  it  produced,  in  the  end,  a  harvest  of  great 
worth.  Thus  God,  when  we  come  to  him  for  grace,  does 
not  bestow  his  treasures  directly,  but  draws  the  soul  into 
such  efforts,  that  they  are  produced  even  while  we  are 
seeking  for  them ;  and  the  grace  thus  gained  is  far  more 
sure  and  permanent. 

Now  this  view  of  the  work  of  God's  grace  in  the  mind 
and  the  affections  (and  we  think  it  is  the  Scripture  view) 
puts  one  very  much  upon  his  guard  against  the  mistake  of 
perfection,  against  the  monstrous  idea  that  the  Christian 
has  ever  attained  a  state,  in  which  he  has  no  need  of  con- 
fession for  sin,  or  in  which  there  is  not  a  higher  state 
before  him  that  he  ought  to  attain,  or  in  which  he  is 
entirely  cured  of  the  malady  of  sin.  The  very  statement 
of  such  a  thing  sets  a  humble  Christian  heart  at  once 
against  it  ;  not  that  it  is  not  infinitely  desirable  to  be 
perfectly  freed  from  sin,  for  this  would  be  a  very  heaven 
on  earth ;  and  perfect  freedom  from  sin  is  what  the  new- 
born soul  will  long  after  and  struggle  after,  in  Christ.  But 
perfect  freedom  from  sin,  we  may  very  safely  say,  is  never 
attained  in  this  world.  The  supposition,  the  imagination, 
the  belief  of  it,  is  almost  inevitably  the  parent  of  pride, 
and  so  of  every  evil.  This  faith  in  one's  perfect  freedom 
from  sin,  while  God's  own  discipline  is  going  on  to  beat 
down  sin,  and  is  still  needed  in  the  soul,  takes  the  place  of 
faith  in  Christ,  and  plunges  the  soul  into  sin.  So  has  that 


176  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

great  master  of  the  human  heart,  and  of  the  workings  both 
of  nature  and  of  grace  in  it,  John  Bunyan,  presented  the 
consequences  of  the  self-flattering  idea  of  perfect  freedom 
from  sin.  The  Flatterer  may  seem  a  Bright,  glorious  man, 
in  a  white  robe,  with  white  shining  wings,  without  us  ; 
but  he  is  the  dark,  deceitful  old  man  within  us,  and  in  his 
boastful  walk  towards  heaven  makes  a  clean,  wide,  imper- 
ceptible sweep,  like  the  gradual  turning  of  a  great  steamer 
in  the  sea,  round  about  from  heaven,  so  that  one  not  look- 
ing narrowly  at  the  compass  shall  not  know  the  change. 
But  when  he  has  got  us  thoroughly  into  his  net,  then  the 
bright  robe  and  shining  wings  drop  off,  and  a  dark  form 
of  Satan  stands  developed. 

How  absurd  to  speak  of  perfection,  while  the  cause  of 
evil  remains.  The  most  perfect  man  on  earth,  left  to  him- 
self, would  go  away  to  Satan.  Left  to  himself,  then  self 
alone,  and  the  Satan  in  self,  would  be  developed.  What 
sort  of  perfection  is  that  ?  Suppose  you  meet  a  lame  man, 
said  to  have  been  entirely  recovered.  "  Why,  I  thought 
you  were  perfectly  well."  "  So  I  am."  "  But  why  then 
do  you  keep  your  crutches  ?"  "  Oh,  the  physicians  say 
that  if  I  laid  them  aside,  the  disease  would  immediately 
come  back  again."  "  Well  then  you  certainly  are  not 
cured  yet."  No  indeed,  a  man  is  not  cured,  until  he  is 
done  with  medicines  and  the  physicians.  Grace  in  this 
world  is  medicinal,  curative,  as  long  as  the  \vorld  stands. 
In  heaven  only  is  it  the  result,  as  well  as  the  cause,  of 
health.  In  this  world  there  is  never  the  absolutism  of 
perfection. 

Now  the  application  of  this  chapter  is  almost  equally  to 
those  who  hope,  and  who  do  not  hope,  in  Christ.  If  you 
do  hope,  you  see  your  calling.  You  see  that  while  God 
worketh  in  you,  you  must  work.  The  only  proof  that 
God  is  working  in  you  is  your  working.  It  is  hard  work- 
ing, and  you  cannot  lawfully  entertain  hope,  nor  possibly 
make  any  progress  in  grace  without  it.  Work  you,  and 
God  is  working.  Work  hard,  and  God  is  working  in  you 


CHRIST    IN    THE     AFFECTIONS.  177 

mightily.  Labor  more  abundantly  than  they  all,  and  God's 
grace  is  laboring  in  you.  You  are  not  to  wait  for  God, 
but  to  work  ;  for  God  is  beforehand  with  you,  all  the  while. 
You  are  to  wait  upon  God,  but  you  are  not  to  wait  for 
God,  before  you  obey  his  command  to  work,  for  God  is 
already  waiting  for  you,  and  always  working.  Work 
while  the  day  lasts,  work  in  reliance  upon  God,  work  in 
expectation  of  a  glorious  harvest,  and  the  more  you  work, 
and  the  more  earnestly  you  work,  the  easier  it  will  be ; 
and  by  and  by  your  reward  and  your  rejoicing  shall  be 
great  in  the  Lord. 

And  you  who  do  not  hope ;  if  ever  such  a  one  shall  read 
this  chapter ;  you  see  your  calling  also.  If  you  ever  do  hope, 
it  cannot  be  without  your  own  efforts ;  not  your  efforts 
without  God,  nor  your  efforts  before  God,  but  your  efforts 
according  to  God's  working.  God  is  always  working, 
working  while  the  day  lasts,  as  he  tells  you  to  work.  But 
the  night  cometh.  God's  time  of  working  lasts  no  longer 
than  your  time  of  probation,  and  you  know  not  when  that 
may  close.  Therefore  begin  at  once,  for  if  God  ceases  to 
work,  you  never  will  begin.  You  are  not  to  wait  for  God, 
for  you  cannot  tell,  you  never  will  be  able  to  tell,  except 
from  God's  Word,  in  your  first  efforts,  whether  it  is  God 
or  you.  If  you  should  go  for  the  first  time,  and  begin  to 
pray,  it  might  seem  to  you  that  you  are  alone,  that  there 
is  nothing  of  God  in  that,  that  it  is  your  miserably  poor 
impulse  and  effort,  not  God's ;  and  yet,  if  you  thus  really 
begin  to  work,  in  reliance  on  God  in  Christ,  it  is  God 
working  in  you,  and  the  first  discovery  of  God,  the  very 
first  proof  of  God  working,  is  your  work.  The  first  hope 
of  God's  work  begun  for  you,  is  your  working  after  God. 
After  God  in  two  senses  ;  seeking  for  him.  and  working 
because  he  works,  because  he  begins  the  work  and  you  fol- 
low. But  if  you  wait  for  him,  instead  of  working  for  him, 
then  there  is  no  hope.  Begin,  and  it  is  your  proof  that 
God  has  begun  ;  work,  and  work  on,  trusting  in  the  Lamb 
of  God,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  he  is  working  in  you, 

8* 


178   GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

both  to  will  and  to  do.    Work,  trusting,  and  you  may  sing* 
rejoicing  : — 

Lord,  I  believe  Thou  hast  prepared 

(Unworthy  though  I  be) 
For  me  a  blood-bought  free  reward, 

A  golden  harp  for  me ! 

Tis  strung  and  tuned  for  endless  years, 

And  formed  by  power  divine, 
To  sound  in  God  the  Father's  ears 

No  other  Name  but  Thine. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Faith  working  by  Love. — Assurance  not  an  attainment,  but  a  result. — Not  a 
direct  gift,  but  the  consequence  of  Christ  in  the  affections. — Not  a  direct 
duty,  but  the  companion  of  duty,  and  its  after-part. 

DR.  MALAN  somewhere  says  beautifully,  in  giving  an 
account  of  his  own  earliest  Christian  experience,  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  awakened  him,  as  a  mother  does  her  sleeping 
babe,  with  a  kiss.  So  sweet  and  gentle  were  the  Saviour's 
dealings  with  his  soul.  He  was  taught  faith,  as  it  were, 
by  a  kiss,  and  looking  up,  beheld  the  face  of  love  divine 
bending  over  him ;  and  then  that  language  of  faith  and 
submission  began  to  be  taught  him,  Lord,  what  wilt  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?  This  is  always  the  language  of  faith, 
hope,  and  love,  which  graces,  if  either  of  them  be  genuine, 
all  go  together,  and  all  carry  the  soul  not  merely  to  Christ's 
feet,  but  to  Christ's  service.  And  the  soul's  disposition 
and  desire  to  serve  Christ,  and  delight  in  that  service,  are 
the  best  genuine  proofs  and  fruits  of  faith,  hope,  and  love. 
These  graces  are  bestowed  and  kept  alive,  for  self-disci- 
pline, for  exercise,  for  results,  from  glory  to  glory,  till  we 
reach  the  church  above. 

There  are  two  cases  of  conversion  in  the  Scriptures  of 
the  New  Testament,  strikingly  similar  in  some  points  of 
view,  and  illustrative  of  divine  grace,  the  one  before,  the 
other  after,  the  ascension  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  The  one 
is  of  a  man  whose  Pagan  name,  under*  the  baptism  of 
Satan,  was  Legion  ;  the  other  is  of  Saul  of  Tarsus.  They 


180  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

both  were  possessed  of  many  devils  ;  they  both  met  Christ 
unexpectedly,  not  knowing  him  ;  they  both  were  brought 
to  their  right  mind  with  a  word ;  they  both  were  at  once 
set  to  work  in  Christ's  service  ;  they  jpoth  caused  all  men 
to  marvel  at  their  preaching  ;  they  both  we.re  illustrations 
of  the  purpose  of  God  in  the  bestowment  of  faith,  and  of 
the  happiness  and  glory  of  self-denying  love. 

Heaven  doth  with  us,  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  themselves. 

If  we  ever  think  otherwise,  think  we  are  lighted  for  our- 
selves, then  if  we  are  really  lighted,  our  Lord  will  show  us 
our  mistake,  and  teach  us  how  to  let  our  light  shine  for 
others ;  and  if  it  do  not  shine  for  others,  it  is  not  lighted 
at  all. 

It  is  said  of  that  wild  man  among  the  mountains,  in  the 
swinish  country  of  the  Gadarenes,  that  when  our  Saviour, 
after  healing  him,  was  come  into  the  ship,  he  that  had  been 
possessed  with  the  devil  prayed  him  that  he  might  be  with 
him.  He  would  have  gone  with  Christ  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  to  stay  with  him.  Howbeit,  Jesus  suffered  him  not, 
but  saith  unto  him,  Go  home  to  thy  friends,  and  tell  them 
all  how  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath 
had  compassion  on  thee.  Our  first  lesson  in  this  case  is 
of  the  certainty  and  earnestness  of  desire  with  which  a 
new-converted  soul  turns  to  Christ,  and  longs  after  him. 
Christ  is  its  first  happiness.  But  our  second  lesson  is  of 
the  way  in  which  this  first  desire,  if  genuine,  will  certainly 
work,  and  the  way  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  appointed 
for  proving  and  sustaining  it.  The  lessons  from  Paul's 
case  are  similar,  but  the  wild  man  of  the  mountains  saw 
Christ  before  him  in  the  ship  ;  Paul  did  not. 

There  are  two  things  in  the  Christian  Life  ;  labor  and 
happiness.  We  put  labor  first,  happiness  second.  This 
is  the  true  ordeV,  the  great  principle,  at  least  for  depraved 


CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS.  181 

beings,  under  a  necessity  of  coming  back  to  God,  denying 
themselves,  and  seeking  happiness  in  his  service.  Labor 
in  heaven  is  unknown,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  think  of 
it  in  this  world,  connecting  it  as  we  do  with  ideas  of 
weariness,  painfulness,  and  difficulty.  But  all  the  saints 
in  heaven  have  done  with  labor  in  this  sense,  and  there 
they  all  rest  from  their  labors.  In  the  celestial  world  all 
labor,  work,  business,  all  activity  for  God,  is  mere  sacred, 
unmingled,  absorbing  delight ;  it  is  happiness  itself,  and 
not  an  introduction  to  it,  or  mere  preparation  for  it.  But 
in  this  world  labor  is  labor,  and  as  such  it  goes  before 
happiness,  must  go  before  it.  It  is  the  only  gate  to  happi- 
ness. There  is  no  green  lane.  A  man  must  labor  to  get 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  If  any  man  will  come  after 
me,  let  him  deny  himself,  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me." 
A  man  labors  under  the  burden  of  his  sins,  when  he  sees 
and  feels  himself  to  be  out  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
"  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest." 

But  when  a  man  is  once  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
even  in  this  world,  then  the  order  seems  to  be  reversed. 
Then,  ordinarily,  the  first  thing  he  experiences  is  happiness. 
It  is  not  always  so,  for  sometimes  in  the  soul's  very  first 
experience  in  the  Christian  life  there  is  more  of  conflict 
than  relief,  more  of  labor  than  rest,  more  of  fear  than  hope. 
But  generally,  and  in  proportion  to  the  clearness  with 
which  the  soul  sees  Christ,  and  the  hearty  faith  with  which 
it  throws  itself  upon  him,  there  is  happiness  uppermost  in 
the  man's  heart.  There  is  the  healing  of  his  diseases,  tho 
deliverance  from  his  burden,  the  pardon  of  sin,  a  calmed 
and  holy  conscience,  a  peaceful  heart,  a  sweet  stillness 
after  the  tempest,  a  clear,  soft,  lovely  sky,  Christ  shining 
the  world  beneath  his  feet,  the  power  of  temptation  brokei . 
Satan  and  his  angels  withdrawn,  heaven  opening,  the  patV 
way  of  the  soul  traced  clear,  bright,  blissful,  into  the  gaU.-s 
of  the  New  Jerusalem. 


182  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

The  opening  heavens  around  me  shine 

With  beams  of  sacred  bliss, 
When  Jesus  shows  his  mercy  mine, 

And  whispers  I  am  his. 

This  is  the  first  state,  the  first  experience.  It  is  so 
sweet,  so  grateful,  such  a  foretaste  of  heaven,  often  so 
ravishing,  that  the  soul  sometimes  sits  and  weeps  for  very 
joy.  It  is  so  sweet  for  one  that  has  all  his  life  been  a 
madman,  to  come  and  sit,  clothed,  and  in  his  right  mind,  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus !  Sometimes  a  pardoned  soul  sits  like 
Mary  before  Christ,  washing  his  feet  with  her  tears  and 
wiping  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head,  and  feels  as  though 
it  could  do  this  for  ever.  Sometimes  with  this  joy  there 
is  a  trembling  apprehension  of  losing  it,  of  encountering 
temptation,  of  going  forth  anywhere  among  men,  the  world 
is  so  full  of  sin,  and  of  the  soul's  enemies.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  first  type  of  character,  the  first  manifestation 
of  grace,  is  somewhat  different.  Along  with  this  joy, 
there  comes  an  irresistible  desire  to  bring  others  to  experi- 
ence the  same,  and  the  soul  feels  as  if  it  could  go  up  and 
down  the  world  singing  and  preaching,  Come  to  Christ ! 
Come  to  Christ !  But  in  general  the  experience  of  this 
man  among  the  mountains  comes  first,  and  is  the  first  type 
of  character,  and  the  soul  does  not,  at  once,  begin  to  think 
of  laboring  for  others.  It  begs  to  stay  with  Christ.  Oh !  it 
would  have  nothing  to  do  henceforth  but  to  look  at  him,  to 
love  him,  to  commune  with  him,  to  abide  with  him,  to  sit 
at  his  feet,  singing  and  making  melody  in  the  heart  unto 
the  Lord.  We  say  not  that  this  is  the  best  type,  although 
it  is  the  instinctive  impulse  of  the  new-born  soul,  in  a 
sense  of  its  weakness  and  dependence  upon  Christ,  to  hide 
beneath  the  shelter  of  his  wings,  and  get  some  little  experi- 
ence of  strength  in  him,  that  it  may  begin  to  work  for 
him.  The  new  regenerated  soul,  as  a  new-born  babe, 
desires  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word,  that  it  may  grow 
thereby.  And  this  growth,  of  necessity,  is  gradual,  so 
that  the  young  convert  cannot  at  once  go  forth  as  a  full 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  183 

grown  experienced  soldier  of  Christ  to  fight  for  him,  but 
is  wise,  at  first,  to  go  tremblingly,  little  by  little,  into  the 
conflict.  David  was  not  sent  at  once  to  fight  with 
Goliah,  but  at  first  kept  sheep  in  quiet  landscapes,  and 
met  the  bear  and  the  lion,  in  the  circuit  of  his  own  experi- 
ence, much  less  dangerous  to  contend  with  than  savage 
men  out  of  it.  This  was  the  way  in  which  he  was  taught 
confidence  in  God,  and  was  prepared  for  the  great  work 
God  had  for  him  to  do.  Not  that  a  great  faith  in  God,  at 
once,  at  the  outset,  and  a  great  instant  desire  to  win  souls 
to  Christ,  is  not  a  higher  type  of  character,  for  it  certainly 
is.  And  when  it  comes  from  God,  and  is  not  mingled  with 
human  confidence,  God  will  send  such  a  Great-Heart  at 
once  upon  its  mission. 

But  we  say,  in  general,  the  new  convert  desires,  and 
wisely  desires,  to  be  with  Christ  alone,  and  must  learn 
gradually  the  great  lesson  that  labor  for  Christ  is  the  only 
way  to  keep  with  Christ.  But  sometimes  the  soul  indulges 
this  spiritual  luxury  longer  than  the  call  of  duty  permits. 
It  stays  so  long  in  the  mere  exercise  of  prayer  and  praise, 
that  active  labor  becomes  distasteful  ;  it  shrinks  back. 
The  spiritual  energy,  which  would  have  grown  by  action, 
is  weakened.  Difficulties  have  time  to  spring  up.  The 
first  love  declines  a  little,  before  the  first  habit  of  self- 
denying  love  in  labor  is  formed.  And  then  conscience, 
little  by  little,  is  injured,  by  the  soul  staying  inactive  with 
Christ,  when  it  ought  to  have  gone  out  and  worked  for 
him.  And  so  the  very  happiness  of  the  Christian  life  at 
first  may  be  the  occasion  of  darkness  afterwards ;  the  occa- 
sion, though  not  the  cause,  for  sin  is  the  cause. 

After  the  Christian  life  is  begun,  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  happiness  without  labor.  Happiness  may  come  first  in 
the  Christian  life,  may  be  the  first  experience ;  but  labor 
must  come  second,  or  if  it  does  not,  happiness  flies  away. 
And  ever  in  this  world  the  order  is  somewhat  reversed 
from  what  it  is  in  the  celestial  world ;  labor  must  come 
first,  happiness  second,  then  labor  and  happiness  go  hand 


184  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

in  hand.  Christ  gives  the  soul  deliverance,  and  then  says 
to  it,  Go  work  in  my  vineyard.  Christ  gives  the  soul  a 
sense  of  pardon  and  a  taste  of  his  preciousness,  and  then 
says  to  it,  Learn  to  rely  on  me,  and  ifc  the  strength  of  this 
mercy  go  forth  on  your  pilgrimage  of  duty.  If  ye  love 
me,  keep  my  commandments.  Go  home  to  thy  friends, 
and  tell  them,  and  tell  all  the  world,  how  great  things  the 
Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  as  you  go,  I  will  be  with 
thee.  But  if  you  go  not,  I  depart  from  you.  This  is  your 
world  of  labor ;  I  have  called  you  to  labor.  It  is  labor  of 
love,  but  still  it  is  labor.  Be  faithful,  and  I  will  shine  upon 
you.  He  that  seeketh  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  but  he  that 
loseth  his  life  for  my  sake,  shall  find  it.  Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  crown  of  life. 

Now  this  wild  man  taken  from  the  mountains  and  the 
tombs  and  made  to  sit  at  the  feet,  of  Jesus,  is  a  beautiful 
illustration  of  Christian  experience.  He  prayed  Christ 
that  he  might  be  with  him,  but  Jesus  suffered  him  not. 
It  seemed  strange,  did  it  not,  that  he  should  reject  so 
touching  an  appeal  ?  Poor,  wretched  maniac  !  torn  for 
years  of  devils,  and  the  worst  devils  of  all  were  those  of 
his  own  passions,  how  natural  it  was,  nay  how  right,  how 
beautiful,  what  a  lovely  proof  of  gratitude  and  love,  for 
him  to  wish  thenceforth  to  stay  with  his  heavenly  deliverer. 
O  let  me  never,  never  depart  from  thee  !  Lord,  let  me  stay 
with  thee.  Let  me  never  go  back  to  the  world,  nor  enter 
again  my  native  city  of  destruction,  but,  oh !  let  me  stay 
with  thee,  let  me  stay  with  thee  !  In  my  right  mind,  let 
me  stay  with  thee,  let  me  stay  with  thee  ! 

Poor,  distressed,  simple,  but  now  happy  being !  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  the  first  human  face  divine  that  he 
had  looked  upon  with  a  ray  of  intelligent  sympathy,  per- 
haps for  years.  And  oh !  how  ravishing  it  was  to  him  !  It 
was  the  first  face  that  had  looked  on  him  with  kindness, 
and  it  was  the  kindness  of  one  who  loved  him  so  much  as 
to  die  for  him.  It  was  a  face  of  love  like  the  face  of  an 
angel,  like  an  opening  into  heaven,  like  the  face  of  God ; 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  185 

nay,  it  was  the  face  of  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  soul 
unto  himself,  and  looking  on  it  in  his  own  renewed  image 
Poor  madman  !  He  had  been  in  the  mountains  and  among 
the  tombs,  and  men  had  done  nothing  with  him  but  to 
beat  him  and  chain  him  and  fly  from  him,  and  he  had  been 
crying  and  cutting  himself  with  stones ;  and  now  there 
was  a  being  looking  on  him,  that  loved  him  !  and  he  was 
clothed  and  in  his  right  mind,  and  Christ  had  clothed  him, 
and  Christ  had  given  him  this  right  mind,  and  Christ  had 
driven  away  the  demons  that  had  possessed  and  torn  him  ! 
And  he  knew  it  was  Christ  that  had  done  this  ;  and  it  was 
so  swreet,  so  ravishing  to  him  to  sit  and  look  at  Christ,  and 
wonder  at  himself  in  his  new  array,  in  inward  and  out- 
ward quietude,  no  fiends  within  him,  nor  angry  passions, 
but  all  peace  ;  no  savage  men  nor  swine  around  him,  but 
Jesus,  his  healer,  his  Redeemer,  his  Lord,  his  all !  Indeed, 
it  was  not  strange  that  he  desired  to  be  with  him ;  it  had 
been  strange,  if  he  had  not. 

But  our  Blessed  Lord  had  much  for  him  to  do,  and 
knew  what  was  best  for  him.  He  must  now  make  use  of 
his  restored,  regenerated  reason,  in  bringing  others  to  their 
senses.  And  he  told  him,  Go  home  to  thy  friends,  and  tell 
them  how  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and 
hath  had  compassion  on  thee.  And  now  the  humble  happy 
man  shows  another  proof  of  true  piety.  He  is  ready  to  do 
just  what  his  Lord  bids  him.  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?  His  desire  to  stay  with  Christ  had  been  a 
proof,'  at  first  most  delightful  of  his  piety ;  for  no  man 
would  love  and  long  to  be  with  Christ,  without  divine 
grace  in  his  heart.  But  now  his  willingness  to  go  instantly 
and  do  Christ's  work  was  a  still  more  blessed  proof  of 
sincere  piety.  And  he  departed  and  began  to  publish  in 
Decapolis  how  great  things  Jesus  had  done  for  him.  And 
all  men  did  marvel. 

And  no  wonder  that  they  marvelled.  What  descriptions 
he  would  give  of  Christ !  In  what  melting  accents  would 
he  speak  of  his  tenderness !  How  he  would  urge  all  to 


186  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

come  to  him  !  How  he  would  prepare  Christ's  way  in 
the  heart !  And  this  the  madman  of  the  mountains !  He 
was  a  most  successful  preacher,  we  doubt  not.  He  told 
his  story  so  truly,  so  tremblingly,  and  preached  Christ  so 
winningly,  that  all  men  marvelled.  And  his  story  never 
lost  its  freshness.  We  should  like  to  have  seen  him  again 
with  Christ,  to  have  watched  him  in  another  interview,  as 
very  probably  he  had  many.  But  the  last  we  see  of  him 
is  preaching,  laboring,  publishing.  We  shall  see  him 
again  in  glory,  and  doubtless,  when  we  see  him  there,  we 
shall  see  many  a  soul  around  him,  won  to  Christ  by  his 
faithfulness.  The  world  marvelled  at  the  change  in  him  ; 
perhaps  some  thought  him  crazier  than  before ;  they 
thought  his  madness  had  taken  a  new  type  indeed,  but  it 
was  still  madness.  But  others  believed  him,  and  saw  that 
now  indeed  he  was  in  his  right  mind,  and  came  to  Christ 
themselves  through  his  saying,  to  be  healed. 

Now  the  lessons  we  may  draw  from  our  Saviour's 
loving  kindness  to  this  man  are  very  sweet,  very  beautiful, 
very  important.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  clear  that  in  this 
world  labor  is  better,  more  precious,  than  happiness.  Labor 
should  be  our  object,  fruit  for  Christ,  rather  than  happiness, 
other  than  enjoyment.  To  do  good,  and  to  win  souls  to 
Christ,  should  be  our  work,  leaving  happiness  to  follow,  if 
it  will,  and  if  not,  work  on.  Our  Lord's  method  of  disci- 
pline with  this  man,  and  the  routine  of  duty  marked  out  for 
him,  rebukes  the  life  of  quietism,  monkery,  or  mere  medita- 
tive holiness.  It  commends,  exalts,  and  commands  the 
life  of  active  love.  It  rebukes  those  who  are  too  exclu- 
sively or  too  anxiously  seeking  for  assurance,  and  it  tells 
them  that  love  and  labor  for  Christ  are  better  than  assur- 
ance. Nay,  assurance  cannot  be  but  by  love  and  labor, 
otherwise  it  is  mere  imagination.  Frames  of  feeling  may 
be  delusive,  even  when  we  seem  to  be  sitting  at  the  feet 
of  Christ,  if  there  be  nothing  to  try  them  of  the  nature  of 
self-denial  ;  but  laboring  in  Decapolis  when,  though  self 
would  rather  not,  Christ  bids  us,  is  not  so  likely  to  prove  a 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  187 

mistake.  If  we  strive  to  stay  with  Christ  as  a  selfish 
thing,  we  lose  Christ.  But  if  in  love  we  go  forth  to  obey 
Christ,  we  carry  him  with  us  everywhere,  and  he  stays 
with  us  for  ever.  We  may  seem  to  be  leaving  our  privi- 
leges, or  denying  ourselves  what  seems  necessary  for 
Christian  enjoyment,  but  if  Christ  calls,  all  this  will  be 
more  than  made  up  to  an  obedient  disciple. 

There  is  a  beautiful  parable  related  of  a  holy  ancient 
recluse,  an  inmate,  like  Thomas  A'Kempis,  or  like  the 
devout  Luther,  of  a  house  mistaken  in  that  age  as  the  gate 
to  heaven,  which  illustrates  these  truths,  and  is  more  than 
mere  fancy.  The  pious  old  monk,  it  is  said,  one  day 
when  he  had  been  unusually  fervent  in  prayer,  found  his 
darkened  cell  suddenly  illuminated  by  an  unearthly  light, 
and  there  stood  before  him  a  vision  of  the  Saviour,  his 
countenance  beaming  with  love,  his  hands  outstretched 
with  a  gesture  of  kind  invitation.  At  that  same  moment 
the  peal  of  the  convent  bell  began  to  sound,  which  called 
the  monk,  in  the  regular  course  of  his  duty,  to  take  his 
turn  in  distributing  alms  to  the  poor  at  the  gate.  For  an 
instant  he  hesitated,  so  absorbed  in  the  rapturous  vision  as 
to  question  whether  he  should  not  stay  to  enjoy  it,  and 
leave  some  one  else  to  look  after  the  poor,  but  the  next 
instant  found  him,  true  to  his  vow  of  charity,  on  his  way 
to  the  gate.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished  his  work  of 
relieving  the  poor,  his  self-denying  work  of  humble  love, 
he  returned  in  sadness  to  his  cell,  not  doubting  that  the 
heavenly  vision  had  taken  flight.  But  to  his  surprise  and 
joy,  it  was  still  there,  and  the  face  was  beaming  upon  him 
with  a  smile  even  more  full  than  before  of  divine  beauty 
and  ineffable  love ;  and  there  came  from  the  celestial 
vision  these  words,  "  Hadst  thou  stayed,  I  had  fled."  Thus 
it  is  that  the  Saviour  stays  with  those,  and  shines  upon 
them,  who  imitate  his  own  example  of  self-denying  love. 
To' obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the 
fat  of  rams. 

We  are  taught  by  the  wild  man's  experience  as  well  as 


188  GRACE    AND   TRUTH, 

Paul's,  that  as  Christ,  in  healing  us,  has  an  object  beyond 
ourselves,  a  wider  purpose  of  benevolence,  so  we  ought  to 
look  beyond  ourselves,  endeavoring  to  fulfil  Christ's  pur- 
poses of  mercy.  Let  every  man,  says  the  apostle,  look  not 
upon  his  own  things,  but  also  on  the  things  of  others. 
Every  measure  of  grace  imparted  to  us  we  are  to  consider 
as  given  not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  as  stewards  for  others. 
That  is  the  very  expression  which  the  apostle  uses.  As 
every  man  hath  received  the  gift,  even  so  minister  the 
same  one  to  another,  as  good  stewards  of  the  manifold 
grace  of  God.  All  true  piety  is  forgetful  of  self,  and 
anxious  to  make  others  holy  and  happy.  And  all  acquisi- 
tions in  piety  that  do  not  tend  that  way,  or  that  stop  with 
self,  or  nourish  spiritual  indolence  and  pride,  or  that  lead 
to  anything  like  self-exaltation  on  account  of  high  spiritual 
frames,  or  great  spiritual  enjoyment,  are  very  likely  to  be 
spurious,  or  if  not  spurious  may  be  occasions  of  advantage 
to  the  tempter  of  the  soul.  Whatever  leads  to  spiritual 
theories  of  perfection,  rather  than  to  humble,  diligent, 
benevolent  action,  or  to  self  congratulation,  rather  than 
the  exaltation  of  Christ,  is  suspicious  and  dangerous. 

The  nature  and  purpose  of  the  Christian  ordinances, 
which  God  gives  us,  receive  a  beautiful  illustration  in  this 
light  of  active  love,  especially  such  an  institution  as  that 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  We  enjoy  it  not  for  ourselves 
merely,  but  for  others,  and  Christ  manifests  himself  to  us 
here,  and  renews  our  assurances  of  pardon,  and  gives  the 
communications  of  his  grace,  that  in  the  strength  and  joy 
of  such  an  interview  with  him,  we  may  go  away  with 
animation  to  our  work  of  love,  go  to  exercise  patience 
under  difficulties,  go  to  tell  how  great  things  Christ  can  do 
for  the  soul.  Having  received  grace  we  go  to  minister 
the  same  as  stewards.  Hence  the  feeling  experienced 
sometimes  of  unwillingness  to  go  down  from  mounts  of 
vision  and  enjoyment  such  as  these  into  a  world  of  trial 
may  not  always  be  of  the  best  sort.  We  are  to  feel  that 
these  are  refreshments  granted  on  our  pilgrimage  to 


CHRIST    IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  189 

strengthen  us  for  future  progress.  These  are  arbors 
amid  the  Hill  Difficulty,  where  we  may  sit  down  to  rest, 
but  not  lie  down  to  sleep.  If,  like  Christian,  we  get 
satisfied  with  ourselves,  and  so  amuse  ourselves  with  reading 
our  roll,  we  are  likely  to  fall  asleep  even  at  the  moment  of 
our  most  precious  privileges,  and  then  the  night  comes  on, 
and  we  have  to  walk  in  the  darkness.  Thus  the  place  and 
season  even  of  spiritual  enjoyment  may  prove  a  means  of 
self-indulgence.  Peter's  unwillingness  to  go  down  from 
the  mount,  where  he  had  enjoyed  such  a  rapturous  view 
of  the  glory  of  the  Saviour,  was  natural,  it  was  praise- 
worthy, it  was  almost  inevitable.  But  Peter  would  have 
stayed  there  all  his  lifetime,  and  forgetting  a  world  lying  in 
wickedness,  and  the  need  of  his  efforts  in  it,  and  the  great 
purpose  of  the  Saviour's  sufferings  and  death.  Sufferings 
and  death  were  the  last  things  Peter  was  thinking  of  just 
then,  although  death  had  been  the  theme  of  the  scene  of 
transfiguration.  But  he  knew  so  little  about  it,  that  the 
very  next  day,  when  our  Lord,  in  preparation  for  their 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  for  the  things  that  should  befall 
them  there,  preached  to  them  concerning  his  sufferings 
and  resurrection,  they  understood  not  one  syllable  of  all 
that  he  uttered,  and  about  the  same  time  disputed  amonff 
themselves  who  should  be  the  greatest.  So  little  did  they 
know  their  own  hearts,  and  so  little  certain  connexion 
there  was  between  the  enjoyment  of  a  sight  of  Christ's 
glory  in  the  Mount,  and  the  spirit  of  humility  and  of 
patient  toil  for  Christ. 

It  could  not  have  been  much  more  than  a  week  either 
one  way  or  the  other,  from  this  scene,  when  Peter  so 
openly  and  with  so  much  self-confident  assumption  began 
to  rebuke  our  Lord  for  the  prediction  of  his  sufferings,  and 
to  dissuade  him  from  his  work  of  self-denying  love.  And 
our  Lord  called  him  Satan,  and  told  him  to  get  out  of  his 
sight,  so  earthly  and  offensive  was  his  spirit.  So  we  see 
that  ravishing  views  of  Christ  are  not  necessarily  proofs 
of  a  readiness  to  labor  for  Christ,  or  to  suffer  for  him.  And 


190  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

such  instances  ought  to  make  us  very  careful  how  we 
indulge  ourselves  in  self-congratulation  on  account  of 
remarkable  seasons  of  spiritual  enjoyment,  or  elevated 
visions  on  the  Mount*  or  think  ourselves  near  to  perfection 
because  of  our  sweet  frames  of  feeling.  James  and  John, 
the  other  companions  of  the  Saviour  in  the  Mount,  were 
also  so  far  from  possessing  his  spirit,  that  a  short  time 
after  this  they  engaged  in  the  same  quarrel  about  the 
superiority,  and  when  the  Samaritans  would  not  receive 
our  Lord,  they  were  for  burning  up  the  whole  city  and  all 
its  inhabitants.  Perhaps  this  intense,  fiery  zeal  grew  in 
part  out  of  the  very  view  they  had  had  of  our  Lord's  glory 
in  the  transfiguration.  Ye  know  not  what  spirit  ye  are 
of!  There  may  have  been  much  of  self  and  pride  mingled 
with  their  enjoyment  on  the  Mount,  and  the  self  and  pride 
came  out,  when  the  glory  and  excitement  of  the  Mount 
had  departed.  So  we  should  be  upon  our  guard,  remem- 
bering that  all  true  enjoyment  and  real  attainment  in 
piety  will  leave  the  heart  more  humble,  gentle,  patient, 
kind,  and  self-distrustful  than  before. 

Perhaps  there  has  been  a  great  mistake  made  about 
assurance.  It  is  not  a  thing  designed  to  be  labored  after 

an  end,  but  a  thing  that  can  only  come  by  the  way,  in 
>ring  after  Christ.  Doubtless  it  is  too  much  sought, 
too  anxiously  desired,  for  itself,  for  enjoyment,  for  comfort ; 
while  holiness,  growth  in  grace,  likeness  to  Christ,  is  not 
enough  sought  for  itself,  or  for  Christ.  The  end  is  put  for  the 
means,  and  the  means  for  the  end  ;  that  is,  holiness,  which 
should  be  an  ultimate  object  with  the  Christian,  and  like- 
ness to  Christ,  which  is  the  end  of  all  discipline,  is  sought 
as  the  means  of  assurance,  of  comfort ;  and  assurance, 
which  is  but  the  means  of  holiness,  is  made  the  great  end. 
This  is  a  sad  mistake,  and  yet  very  prevalent. 

Now  in  proportion  as  there  is  likeness  to  Christ,  there 
will,  ordinarily,  be  assurance,  as  one  result,  a  thing  by  the 
way.  But  it  is  not  so  certain  that  in  proportion  as  there 
is  what  is  called  assurance  there  will  be  holiness,  likeness 


CHRIST     IN    THE    AFFECTIONS.  191 

to  Christ.  Knowledge,  says  the  apostle,  puffeth  up,  but 
charity  buildetk  up,  charity  edifieth.  Love  to  Christ  is  too 
much  occupied  with  him  and  his  service,  to  be  over-anxious 
for  self-enjoyment  or  assurance  ;  and  where  Christ  is  reign- 
ing supreme  in  the  affections,  and  bringing  every  thought 
into  captivity  to  his  love,  the  soul  desires  no  other  assurance 
than  the  beholding  of  him.  It  is  the  contemplation  of  the 
Saviour,  and  not  of  self,  that  is  our  source  of  power  and 
liberty.  We  all,  with  open  face,  beholding  as  in  a  glass 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

There  will  be  other  changes  on  earth,  and  doubtless  they 
are  necessary  for  this  great  change.  "  The  sensible  com- 
fort," said  Mr.  Berridge  in  a  characteristic  letter  to  Lady 
Huntingdon,  "  will  not  last  always  nor  long.  In  the  pre- 
sent state  of  things  a  winter  is  as  much  wanted  to  continue 
the  earth  fruitful,  as  a  summer.  If  the  grass  was  always 
growing,  it  would  soon  grow  to  nothing ;  just  as  flowers, 
that  blow  much  and  long,  generally  blow  themselves  to 
death.  And  as  it  is  thus  with  the  ground,  so  is  it  with 
the  laborers  too.  Afflictions,  desertions,  and  temptations, 
are  as  needful  as  consolations.  Jonah's  whale  will  teach 
a  good  lesson,  as  well  as  Pisgah's  top ;  and  a  man  may 
sometimes  learn  as  much  from  being  a  night  and  a  day  in 
the  deep,  as  from  forty  days  on  the  mount.  I  see  Jonah 
come  out  of  a  whale  and  cured  of  rebellion  ;  I  see  Moses 
go  up  to  the  Mount  with  meekness,  but  come  down  in  a 
huff,  and  break  the  tables.  Further,  I  see  three  picked 
disciples  attending  their  Master  to  the  mount,  and  fall 
asleep  there.  Jesus  has  given  you  a  hand  and  heart  to 
execute  great  things  for  his  glory,  and  therefore  he  will 
deal  you  out  a  suitable  measure  of  afflictions  to  keep  your 
balance  steady." 

This  is  truth  taught  by  experience,  the  growth  of  God's 
Word.  It  is  not  theory,  nor  imagination,  but  sober  reality ; 
reality  in  a  world  not  of  unclouded  light,  but  of  discipline 
to  prepare  for  light,  and  of  the  trial  of  the  soul  to  see  what 


192   GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

it  will  do,  what  is  its  stay  and  assurance,  when  everything 
seems  to  fail.  The  experience  of  the  Christian  soul  is 
beautifully  expressed  by  Cowper. 

1 
When  darkness  long  has  veiled  my  mind, 

And  smiling  day  once  more  appears, 
Then,  my  Redeemer,  then  I  find 

The  folly  of  my  doubts  and  fears. 
Straight  I  upbraid  my  wandering  heart ; 

And  blush  that  I  should  ever  be 
Thus  prone  to  act  so  base  a  part. 
Or  harbor  one  hard  thought  of  Thee. 

0  let  me  then  at  length  be  taught 
What  I  am  still  so  slow  to  learn, 

That  God  is  love,  and  changes  not, 

Nor  knows  the  shadow  of  a  turn. 
Sweet  truth,  and  easy  to  repeat ! 

But  when  my  faith  is  sharply  tried, 

1  find  myself  a  learner  yet, 

Unskilful,  weak,  and  apt  to  slide. 

But  O  my  Lord,  one  look  from  Thee 

Subdues  my  disobedient  will ; 
Drives  doubt  and  discontent  away, 

And  thy  rebellious  worm  is  still. 
Thou  art  as  ready  to  forgive, 

As  I  am  ready  to  repine ; 
Thou  therefore  all  the  praise  receive, 

Be  shame  and  self-abhorrence  mine. 


DEVELOPMENT,    DISCIPLINE, 

AND 

FKUITS    OF   FAITH, 

PART  THIRD. 

GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 
CHRIST     INTHE     LIFE. 


WINDINGS   OF  THE    RIVER, 
CONTINUED, 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Illustrations  of  the  Life  of  Faith  in  Christ's  Apostles. — The  Life  of  Faith  a 
Missionary  Spirit  at  the  very  outset,  and  a  life  of  Love  continued. 

THE  first  instances  of  faith,  of  conversion,  and  of  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  life  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, are  recorded  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  gospel  of 
John.  We  there  behold  John  the  Baptist  introducing  to 
Christ  the  earliest  among  his  chosen  disciples,  and  there  also 
we  find  the  first  instance  of  that  beautiful  and  comprehen- 
sive designation  of  the  life  of  faith,  as  following  Jesus. 
Instead  now  of  going  into  a  speculative  tracery  or  calen- 
dar of  the  various  virtues  in  the  life  of  faith,  or  attempting 
to  compose  in  essays  a  directory  of  religious  ethics,  we 
shall  just,  for  the  present,  contemplate  the  life  of  faith,  or 
Christ  in  the  life,  as  illustrated  in  the  experience  of  John, 
Peter,  Andrew,  Philip,  and  Nathaniel.  The  previous 
training  of  these  disciples,  the  evidence  before  them,  the 
decisiveness  and  results  of  their  faith,  the  manner  of  its 
working  and  ruling  in  their  life,  the  experience  and  trials 
of  Peter,  the  creed  of  doubt,  and  the  creed  of  faith,  as  by 
himself  manifested,  with  the  reproof  and  instruction  of  the 


196  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Saviour's  mercy,  are  points  which  may  occupy  us  with 
more  of  novelty,  and  possibly  more  of  profit,  than  an 
enumeration  of  rules  or  precepts  for  the  Divine  life, 
whether  after  the  manner  of  the  fe-ntique  or  modern 
religious  guide-books  or  philosophers.  Indeed,  what  are 
all  things  that  do  not  bring  us  to  Christ,  and  throw  us  upon 
him,  but  vanities  ?  There  are  three  things  in  the  Life  of 
Faith,  and  they  all  begin  and  end  with  Christ,  COME  UNTO 
ME,  FOLLOW  ME,  ABIDE  IN  ME.  Whatsoever  there  be  with- 
out these  three  things,  there  is  nothing  of  regeneration,  nor 
of  Christ.  There  may  be  a  coming  to  the  Church,  and  a  fol- 
lowing of  the  Church,  and  an  abiding  in  the  Church  ;  there 
may  be  a  coming  to  the  sacraments,  and  a  following  of  end- 
less genealogies,  and  an  abiding  in  the  rubrics  of  form,  after 
the  commandments  and  traditions  of  men  ;  but  if  Christ  be 
not  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  first 
and  the  last,  there  is  nothing  of  true  religion.  God  pronounces 
a  woe  upon  those,  whose  fear  towards  him  is  taught  by  the 
precepts  of  men  ;  and  Christ  says,  In  vain  do  they  worship 
me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men. 

There  were  three  sayings  of  that  noble  martyr  and  saint 
of  Jesus  Christ,  Bishop  Hooper,  that  are  worthy  to  be 
written  in  gold.  "  The  Church  of  Christ,"  said  he,  "  the 
more  it  was  and  is  burdened  with  man's  laws,  the  further 
it  is  from  the  true  and  sincere  verity  of  God's  Word." 
And  again  he  said,  "  It  is  mine  opinion  unto  all  the  world 
that  the  Scripture  solely,  and  the  Apostles'  Church,  is  to 
be  followed,  and  no  man's  authority,  be  he  Augustine, 
Tertullian,  or  even  Cherubim  or  Seraphim."  And  again, 
"  I  had  rather  trust  to  the  shadow  of  the  Church  which 
the  Scripture  teaches,  than  to  all  the  men's  writings  since 
the  death  of  Polycarp." 

But  now  we  are  to  look  for  a  moment  at  the  Apostles' 
lives,  the  example  of  their  faith  and  obedience.  It  is 
recorded  that  on  one  occasion  John  stood  and  two  of  his 
disciples  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  midst  of  his 
baptizing  ministry  introductory  to  Christ.  And  looking 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  197 

upon  Jesus  as  he  walked,  he  saith,  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  !     And  the  two  disciples  heard  him  speak,  and  they 

FOLLOWED  JESUS. 

The  period  of  this  most  interesting  and  solemn  occur- 
rence was  when  John  the  Baptist  had  been  exercising  his 
ministry  about  half  a  year.  It  was  soon  after  the  event 
of  the  Baptism  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  nearly  two  months  which  elapsed  during  the  tempta- 
tion in  the  wilderness,  when  John  was  baptizing  and 
teaching  in  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan.  These  disciples  of 
John,  with  all  his  followers,  had  been  baptized  preparatory 
to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  with  the  baptism  of  repent- 
ance for  the  remission  of  sins.  This  baptism  was  intended 
and  regaided  as  their  introduction  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
blessings  of  Messiah's  reign.  His  coming  was  expected 
speedily,  and  John's  baptism  of  repentance  was  a  prepara- 
tion of  heart  and  of  life  for  him. 

Although  all  the  disciples  of  John  were  not  serious,  or 
praying,  or  penitent  persons,  but  multitudes  came  to  him 
without  any  true  piety  in  their  hearts,  we  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  particular  persons  here  mentioned  were 
already  under  the  disciplinary  power  of  divine  truth  and 
grace.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  devout 
Jews,  seriously  attentive  to  all  the  duties  of  the  Jewish 
religion.  They  were  faithful  to  the  service  of  the  Temple. 
There  they  waited,  as  humble,  expectant  worshippers,  at 
the  proper  times  for  going  thither  to  wait  upon  God. 
There  they  saw  the  sacrifices  offered,  and  felt  the  power 
of  the  Law  in  their  consciences,  and  their  need  of  a 
Redeemer  to  take  away  their  sins.  On  the  great  days  of 
propitiation,  and  on  other  days,  they  stood  gazing  upon  the 
ceremonies  of  the  offerings  for  sin,  so  solemn,  so  signifi- 
cant, and  expected  the  great  coming  atonement  to  take 
away  transgression. 

We  may  suppose  them  to  have  been  attentive  to  all  the 
duties  of  God's  sanctuary,  whether  in  the  Temple,  or  in 
the  synagogues  with  the  assemblies  of  the  people,  on  the 


198  GRACE  AND  TRUTH. 

Sabbath  or  on  other  days.  Their  instructions  hitherto 
had  been  those  of  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Supposing 
them  to  have  waited  upon  these  instructions  with  prayer, 
they  might  have  learned  much  concerning  the  great 
sacrifice.  The  law  taught  them  their  guilt,  and  the 
ceremonial  law  showed  their  need  of  an  atonement.  But 
as  demonstrated  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  it  simply 
prefigured  an  atonement  and  a  Saviour  to  come,  and  was 
designed  for  faith  ;  it  was  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  them  to 
Christ,  and  if  it  produced,  in  their  approaches  to  God,  that 
frame  of  mind,  which  prepared  them  to  receive,  humbly 
and  believingly,  the  gift  of  salvation  in  God's  way  through 
Christ,  that  was  the  accomplishment  of  the  schoolmaster's 
de>sign,  that  was  all  that  the  schoolmaster  could  perform. 
It  was  under  the  power  of  all  such  instruction  in  the  Old 
Testament  that  these  disciples  of  John  waited  upon  him 
for  light.  Thus  waiting,  convicted,  humble,  prayerful, 
John  appeared  to  lead  them  to  Christ.  If  their  hearts 
were  thus  prepared  by  grace,  they  were  ready  to  receive 
John's  revelation.  And  John,  with  his  instructions,  and 
his  baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins,  was 
for  them,  as  it  were,  the  bridge  between  the  Old  and  the 
New  Dispensation. 

The  instructions  of  John  appear  to  us  singularly  evan- 
gelical. Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world !  But  in  truth  this  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  voice  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  beginning 
then  to  be  rightly  interpreted.  The  Old  Testament,  with 
the  veil  taken  away,  is  as  evangelical  as  the  New.  We 
are  not  sufficiently  aware,  or  we  do  not  sufficiently 
remember,  that  this  voice,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  is  the 
voice  of  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  of  the  New.  In 
the  Old,  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  it  was  not,  indeed, 
plain,  as  after  his  coming,  and  could  not  be  ;  because  no 
prediction  can  be  understood  before  it  is  fulfilled  so  plainly 
as  it  can  afterwards.  But  still  it  might  be  clearly  recog- 
nised by  humble  hearts  that  had  been  looking  through  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  199 

types  to  the  reality  and  substance.  The  voice  and  mean- 
ing of  the  Old  Testament  are  the  same  as  those  of  the 
New,  with  this  difference,  that  in  the  Old  the  voice  respects 
the  future  and  the  unseen,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that 
is  to  come, — but  in  the  New  it  respects  a  reality  already 
witnessed,  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come  ;  in  the  Old, 
a  transaction  to  be  performed,  in  the  New,  the  great  tran- 
saction finished.  John's  words  to  the  two  disciples  regarded 
a  Saviour  directly  before  them  in  person ;  but  yet  the 
meaning  of  the  Lamb  of  God  they  could  understand  but 
indistinctly  until  the  crucifixion.  At  this  moment  they 
understood  no  more  than  they  had  learned  from  the  Old 
Testament  and  from  John.  When  they  heard  the  words 
of  John,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God !  and  saw  the  being 
whom  he  pointed  out  to  them,  the  sight  of  Christ  just  then 
gave  them  no  more  insight  into  the  character  and  work  of 
Christ  as  their  Saviour  than  they  had  had  before  ;  for  they 
were  not  as  yet  acquainted  with  him.  But  they  knew 
from  John  that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and  thenceforward  it 
was  their  duty  to  trust  in  him,  and  to  become  acquainted 
with  him. 

And  now  we  are  to  mark  the  instant  and  ready  obedience 
of  the  soul  instructed  by  the  Spirit  and  the  Word  of  God. 
They  followed  Jesus.  This  was  now  their  work.  The 
whole  expectation,  anxiety,  doubt,  faith,  uncertainty,  of  all 
their  preceding  life,  had  come  to  a  sudden  stop  and  point 
of  determination.  All  the  instructions  of  their  youth, 
all  the  lessons  of  a  thousand  years  from  the  prophets  and 
the  law,  all  the  teachings  of  the  temple  and  the  synagogue, 
all  the  predictive  rites,  forms,  and  ceremonies,  were  at  an 
instant  pause  before  this  Divine  being,  and  would  bear  them 
no  further,  but  had  to  come  to  the  limit,  beyond  which  they 
could  not  go,  beyond  which  revelation  itself  could  not 
throw  a  ray  of  light,  nor  disclose  a  path  of  duty.  The 
stream  had  borne  them  to  their  landing  place,  and  they 
must  step  on  shore,  and  follow  Jesus.  The  Word  of  God 
without  them,  the  Spirit  and  the  Word  within  them  ;  the 


200  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Old  Testament ;  John,  whose  mission  as  a  prophet  they 
felt,  knew,  and  acknowledged,  and  the  teachings  of  God's 
Spirit  in  their  hearts,  all  directed  them  to  follow  Jesus. 
They  were  to  do  this  as  their  one  grafld  business  and  duty 
of  existence.  They  were  to  become  acquainted  with  him, 
to  be  instructed  of  him,  submissive  to  him,  to  have  their 
sins  taken  away  by  him,  to  see  more  and  more  of  his 
character  and  glory,  and  to  give  themselves  up  entirely, 
unquestionably,  to  his  disposition  and  guidance.  Their 
light  might  be  found  faint  at  first,  but  it  should  increase  : 
they  were  simply,  confidingly,  to  follow  Christ,  and  they 
should  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  have  the  light  of  life. 
The  Messiah  having  come,  they  were  no  longer  their  own, 
but  must  obey  and  follow  him.  All  the  struggles  for  light 
and  knowledge  in  the  world  ceased  with  that ;  all  the  wis- 
dom of  the  world  became  foolishness,  that  did  not  lead  to 
that ;  that  did  not,  as  it  were,  take  the  soul  and  throw  it 
down  at  the  feet  of  this  Divine  Saviour.  All  the  beaten 
paths  of  revelation  came  to  that ;  all  evidence,  all  pro- 
vidence, all  prophecy,  all  history,  all  faith,  all  knowledge, 
all  hope,  centred  there. 

Now  if  this  was  the  case  with  them  and  their  situation, 
how  much  more  is  it  the  case  with  us  and  ours  !  It  would 
be  for  us  the  greatest  happiness,  if  we  would  bring  our- 
selves precisely  to  the  point,  if  we  would  let  divine  truth 
and  grace  bring  us  just  there,  where  these  two  disciples 
were  brought  through  the  instrumentality  of  their  inspired 
teacher,  just  at  the  gate  of  this  simple  duty,  to  follow 
Christ  and  learn  of  him.  It  is  for  us,  as  for  them,  the 
gate  that  we  must  all  pass  through,  or  for  us  there  is  no 
futurity  but  one  of  darkness.  Our  evidence,  as  theirs, 
brings  us  just  to  this  point,  and  leaves  us  there ;  it  shuts 
us  up  to  Christ.  Up  to  that  point,  it  is  all  light,  all  clear- 
ness ;  paths  of  light,  paths  of  glory,  all  converging  there ; 
but  beyond  that  point,  anywhere  but  through  the  gate  of 
Christ,  through  him  who  is  the  Door,  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
the  Life,  it  is  utter  darkness — darkness  and  despair. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  201 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  superior  and  increasing  nature 
of  that  evidence,  which  brings  us  just  where  these  two 
disciples  stood  before  Christ,  thrown  with  their  whole 
existence,  for  time  and  eternity,  upon  him.  Christ  had  not 
yet  died  and  risen  again.  They  saw  not  the  scheme  of 
redemption  as  we  see  it.  They  could  not,  as  yet,  behold 
the  evidence  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  had  brought 
them  to  Christ,  in  the  light  of  Christ's  crucifixion ;  but  the 
light  of  the  Old  Testament  had  simply  brought  them  to 
Christ,  to  be  instructed  by  him  as  to  the  nature  of  that 
work  which  he  was  to  accomplish  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  We  see  the  work  accomplished;  we  behold  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures  themselves  in  the  light  of  the 
Cross  which  they  predicted,  and  with  the  bright  interpret- 
ation of  that  Saviour,  whom  they  foreshadowed  to  the 
inquiring  mind.  We  have  the  evidence  of  his  death,  his 
resurrection,  his  Church  established,  his  promises  fulfilled, 
his  Spirit  poured  down,  his  inspired  word  in  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles,  and  the  practical  explanation  and  demonstra- 
tion of  the  system  of  redemption  by  his  cross,  in  thousands 
and  millions  of  instances.  The  whole  of  this  evidence, 
instead  of  diminishing,  has  been  increasing  with  every 
generation.  It  is  evidence  multiplied  by  experiment  in 
thousands  on  thousands  of  clear  cases,  evidence  proved 
by  successive  testimony  of  the  most  credible  witnesses 
who  have  ever  lived,  the  best  men,  the  most  enlightened, 
upright,  honest,  and  unimpeachable,  of  all  their  race,  who 
have  themselves  tried  the  experiment  of  belief  demanded 
in  the  Word  of  God,  and  been  saved  from  sin  and  death 
by  it. 

They  who  first  made  this  experiment  stood  alone.  They 
stood  only  on  God's  Word  ;  they  had  nothing  else  to  stand 
upon  ;  they  believed  in  Christ  simply  on  God's  testimony, 
and  they  themselves  became  the  first  human  witnesses  for 
God.  We  believe  also  on  man's  testimony,  and  in  the 
nature  of  things,  by  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind, 
we  cannot  help  it.  It  is  not  in  our  power  to  throw  off 

9* 


202  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

the  accumulated  weight  of  the  testimony  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  all  ages,  nor  to  measure  the  increased  power 
of  the  Word,  or  rather  the  increased  facility  of  faith  in  it, 
through  that,  testimony.  And  though  if  we  are  true 
Christians,  if  we  have  the  Spirit  of  God  within  us,  we  also 
could  stand  upon  the  Word  of  God  alone,  even  if  all  things 
else  were  taken  away  from  us,  it  is  nevertheless  difficult 
for  us  to  conceive  the  power  of  that  faith,  the  greatness 
and  sublimity  of  that  solitary  act  of  faith,  which,  prior  to 
all  human  experience,  could  believe  in  Christ  Jesus  and 
rest  on  him  for  salvation,  on  the  simple  and  sole  testimony 
of  the  Word  of  God.  There  is  much  significance  in  that 
passage  in  one  of  Paul's  Epistles,  where  it  is  said  that  God 
of  his  good  pleasure  and  purpose  gave  to  the  then  saints 
the  inheritance  and  adoption  of  children,  that  they  should 
be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,  who  first  trusted  in  Christ. 
Those  who  first  trusted  were  certainly  the  greatest  triumphs 
of  grace. 

As  soon  as  the  revelation  was  made  to  these  two  disci- 
ples, Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  they  followed  Jesus.  It 
was  no  desertion  of  John  on  their  part,  but  a  simple 
obedience  to  his  directions  ;  for  this  was  the  Great  Being 
of  whom  he  had  told  them  before,  that  he  should  baptize 
them  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  and  now  it  was 
their  business  and  duty  to  follow  him.  Then  Jesus  turned 
and  saw  them  following,  and  said  unto  them,  What  seek 
ye  ?  He  would  try  them,  what  sort  of  inquirers  they 
were,  what  spirit  they  were  of.  He  would  set  them  to 
self-examination,  that  they  might  know  their  own  hearts  in 
the  matter  they  were  entering  on,  and  not  be  deceived. 
He  would  prove  those  who  came  to  him,  and  would  show 
them  their  own  hearts.  He  told  the  multitude  on  one 
occasion,  when  they  followed  him,  that  they  were  seeking 
him  not  because  they  had  seen  the  miracles  which  he  did, 
and  were  convinced  by  the  evidence  of  his  Messiahship, 
but  because  they  had  eaten  of  the  loaves,  and  were  filled. 
The  motive  in  religion  is  everything;  it  determines  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  203 

character.  These  disciples  might  have  followed  Christ  by 
name,  and  yet  not  have  sought  nor  followed  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  It  was  im- 
portant that  they  should  themselves  inquire  and  know 
what  they  were  seeking. 

Then,  said  they  unto  him,  Master,  where  dwellest  thou  ? 
They  would  know  his  residence,  that  they  might  know 
when  and  where  to  resort  to  him.  Then  he  saith  unto 
them,  come  and  see.  It  was  a  friendly  invitation  to  his 
dwelling-place.  He  would  not  merely  tell  them  where  he 
could  be  found,  but  would  bring  them  and  go  with  them, 
if  they  were  ready  to  go,  at  once.  Come  now,  and  see. 
Acquaintance  with  Christ  is  a  matter  of  personal  experi- 
ment. The  voice  of  the  gospel  always  is,  Come  and  see, 
come  and  make  the  experiment,  come  and  know  your 
Saviour,  come  and  drink,  come  and  live.  So  these  dis- 
ciples came.  They  came  and  saw  where  he  dwelt,  and 
abode  with  him  that  day.  He  invited  them,  and  they 
abode  with  him,  for  it  was  towards  evening,  and  the  day 
was  far  spent.  Here  they  listened  to  his  instruction  for 
hours.  What  a  sacred,  blessed  season  as  the  guests  of 
Christ,  enjoying  his  heavenly  conversation !  They  took 
their  evening  meal  with  him,  and  he  expounded  unto  them 
the  Scriptures,  and  at  night  led  them  to  God  in  prayer 
around  the  family  altar.  It  was  indeed  a  sacred,  blessed 
season. 

Thus  it  is  that  Christ  deals  with  the  souls  that  come  to 
him.  He  would  have  them  stay  with  him  at  once,  and 
learn  of  him,  listen  to  him,  commune  with  him,  be  taught 
of  him  in  prayer,  and  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  in  all 
spiritual  duties.  He  would  have  an  acquaintance  at  once 
with  the  soul  that  comes  to  him.  And  the  soul  that  comes 
should  come  to  stay,  should  come  once  for  all,  to  stay  as 
long  immediately  with  Christ  as  he  chooses,  or  to  go  at 
once  and  work  for  him,  like  the  missionary  in  Decapolis, 
the  converted  madman  of  the  mountains.  But  these 
disciples  stayed  quietly  with  him  for  the  present,  sitting  at 


204  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

his  feet  like  Mary,  and  hearing  his  words.  They  had 
everything  to  learn  ;  they  were  to  be  at  school  as  pupils, 
before  they  could  be  prepared  to  go  forth  as  teachers,  as 
apostles  ;  and  Christ  began  with  them  this  very  afternoon 
and  evening,  that  night  and  the  next  morning ;  and  the 
next  day  they  went  forth  with  him  upon  his  missionary 
work.  In  that  work  they  were  to  follow  him,  behold  his 
example,  learn  his  manner  and  habits,  be  imbued  with  his 
instructions,  and  baptized  with  his  Spirit.  From  the 
moment  of  that  evening's  abode  with  him,  they  were  his 
disciples,  belonging  to  him,  and  were  beginning  to  learn  in 
what  way  they  must  leave  all  and  follow  him. 

Also,  we  cannot  fail  to  remark,  in  the  very  outset  they 
began  their  own  missionary  work,  that  work  which  is  the 
whole  business  of  Christianity  towards  man,  and  the  fruit 
of  the  Christian  life  towards  God.  Even  in  their  first 
coming  to  Christ  themselves,  they  brought  others  with 
them.  It  was  a  delightful  example  of  the  practical,  social, 
sympathizing,  working  power  and  tendency  of  true  piety, 
and  of  the  direction  and  manner  in  which  it  works.  One 
of  the  two  who  heard  John  speak  and  followed  him,  was 
Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother.  He  first  findeth  his  own 
brother  Simon,  and  saith  to  him,  We  have  found  the 
Messias,  the  Anointed  of  God,  the  Hope  of  Israel,  the 
Desire  of  all  nations !  It  is  he  ;  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
it ;  we  know  that  we  have  found  him  ;  come  and  see.  And 
so  he  brought  him  to  Jesus. 

Now  this  was  the  very  Spirit  of  Christianity.  Return 
to  thine  own  house,  and  tell  thy  friends  and  relatives  how 
great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath  had 
mercy  on  thee.  It  seems  there  was  no  need  of  this  com- 
mand of  Christ  in  the  case  of  Andrew  ;  his  own  heart  led 
him  in  that  very  way,  and  it  was  a  lovely  development  of 
character  in  him.  No  doubt  he  was  thinking  of  his 
brother  all  the  way  to  the  dwelling  of  Jesus,  and  no  sooner 
had  he  and  John  arrived  with  Christ,  and  entered  the 
house,  to  abide  with  him  that  day,  than  he  thought  within 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  205 

himself,  I  must  go  and  find  Peter  first,  and  we  will  be  here 
together.  Perhaps  he  said  as  much  to  Christ ;  Lord,  suffer 
me  first  to  go  and  find  my  brother.  On  one  occasion, 
when  Christ  had  called  one  to  follow  him,  and  he  said, 
Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury  my  father,  Christ  had 
answered  him  with  a  refusal ;  Let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead,  but  come  thou  and  preach  the  kingdom  of  God.  But 
now  it  was  the  very  work  for  which  he  had  called 
Andrew,  that  Andrew  asked  permission  to  go  upon,  Suffer 
me  first  to  go  and  find  my  brother ;  and  doubtless  our 
Blessed  Lord  was  well  pleased  with  this  affectionate  and 
faithful  trait  in  Andrew's  character. 

The  place  where  they  then  were  was  not  the  birth-place 
of  Andrew  and  Peter,  but  a  town  near  the  river  Jordan, 
perhaps  Bethabara,  whither  they  had  come  as  John's 
disciples,  where  John  was  then  baptizing.  Andrew  easily 
found  Peter,  and  still  more  easily  brought  him  to  Christ. 
They  had  doubtless  often  communed  together  concerning  the 
Messiah,  and  were  animated  by  the  same  views  and  wishes, 
and  had  been  baptized  with  the  same  preparatory  baptism 
of  John  ;  so  that  Andrew  knew  that  he  was  carrying  a  page 
of  glad  tidings  to  Peter,  which  would  be  gladly  received. 
Hence  the  confidence  with  which  he  cries  out  on  first  see- 
ing his  brother,  We  have  found  the  Messias,  even  him, 
of  whom  Moses  in  the  Law,  and  the  prophets  did  write. 
There  was  no  persuasion  needed,  after  this,  to  bring  him 
to  Jesus ;  and  Christ's  declaration  to  him  on  receiving  him 
was  the  adoption  of  him  at  once  as  a  disciple.  These  three 
then  spent  the  day  with  Christ  together,  Andrew,  Peter, 
and  John,  John  being  without  doubt  the  other  of  the  two, 
first  mentioned,  the  one  not  mentioned  by  name ;  so  that 
we  have  here  an  account  of  the  first  calling  of  three  of 
great  note  among  the  apostles,  Andrew,  Peter,  and  John. 
For  the  present  they  remained  with  Christ,  but  afterwards 
for  a  season  returned  to  their  homes  and  their  occupation 
in  fishing,  in  which  employment  our  Saviour  found  them 
busied,  when  he  came  to  call  them  to  his  ministry  as  his 


206  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

constant  attendants.  He  may  have  instructed  them 
beforehand  that  they  were  to  return  to  their  worldly 
calling,  and  abide  in  it  at  present,  till  such  time  as  they 
should  hear  from  him  authoritative!^  again,  and  receive 
from  him  their  effectual  call  to  the  ministry,  which  they 
must  then  instantly  obey.  The  account  of  this  effectual 
calling  is  given  in  Matthew  iv.  18-21,  and  also  in  Mark  i. 
16-21,  and  also,  on  a  different  occasion,  in  Luke  v.  1—11, 
or  the  same  occasion,  with  a  more  full  and  minute  relation 
of  the  circumstances. 

Now  the  conduct  of  these  faithful  disciples  is  a  great 
rebuke  to  those  who  are  hesitating  about  following  Christ. 
No  matter  what  may  be  their  reasons  for  such  hesitation ; 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  which  the  situation  of  these  men 
will  not  match  them.  They  may  be  in  doubt ;  but  if  so, 
they  doubt  in  the  presence  of  far  greater,  clearer  evidence 
than  Peter,  James,  Andrew,  and  John  possessed,  who 
nevertheless  on  the  ground  of  that  evidence  left  every- 
thing and  followed  Christ.  The  truth  is,  these  disciples 
did  not  make  light  of  it,  whereas  men  now  do  ;  and  there 
is  the  great  difference.  These  disciples  came  in  a  most 
serious,  seeking,  prayerful,  pondering  frame,  and  in  this 
frame  they  found  Christ.  If  any  man  will  come  like  them 
now,  he  will  find  Christ. 

And  then,  having  found  him,  the  business  of  life  is  to 
follow  Christ.  In  following  our  respective  callings,  we  are 
to  follow  him.  We  may  follow  him  as  closely  as  Peter, 
and  yet  be  the  most  of  our  time  in  our  ships  mending  our 
nets,  or  casting  them  for  fishes,  if  that  be  the  calling  in 
which  we  are  called  to  the  Lord.  The  change  is,  that 
whereas  we  mended  our  nets,  and  gathered  our  fishes,  and 
sold  them,  before,  for  our selves ,  now  we  do  it  all  in  a  sweet 
reference  to  Christ,  all  in  looking  to  him,  all  that  we  may 
follow  him.  We  burned  incense  to  our  own  net  before, 
now  we  give  up  net,  business,  profits,  all  to  Christ.  We 
must  do  this,  or  we  are  not  Christ's.  We  may  not,  per- 
haps, be  called  away  from  our  counters  like  Matthew,  or 


CHRIST    FN    THE    LIFE.  207 

our  ships  and  nets  like  Peter  and  John,  or  our  law-studies 
like  Paul,  but  we  must  give  up  ourselves,  in  all  these  pur- 
suits, if  we  stay  in  them,  to  Christ,  and  must  pursue  them 
for  Christ,  and  pursue  him  in  them,  or  we  are  none  of  his. 
Moreover,  we  shall  have  to  beware,  in  abiding  in  the 
same  calling  wherein  we  are  called,  lest  we  fall  back  to 
the  pursuit  of  that  calling  on  the  old  mere  worldly  princi- 
ples. There  is  this  powerful  temptation,  by  which  the  god 
of  this  world  succeeds  in  alluring  and  destroying  many  souls 
now,  which  had  but  little  wreight  with  those  who  were 
called  entirely  away  from  their  employments  to  follow 
Christ  personally.  At  the  same  time  let  it  be  remembered 
that  if  this  temptation  be  resisted,  if  the  soul  does  faith- 
fully follow  Christ  and  labor  for  him  in  pursuing  a  worldly 
calling,  it  is  a  great  and  blessed  triumph,  and  shall  have 
a  great  crown.  If  a  man  lays  all  his  plans  of  earthly 
business,  and  prosecutes  them,  with  a  sacred  supreme 
regard  to  his  duty  as  Christ's  steward,  gathering  and  using 
his  money  for  Christ,  his  faith  is  great,  and  his  reward  will 
be  great.  A  merchant,  for  instance,  who  is  truly  an  exam- 
ple for  Christ,  who  truly  pursues  his  business  for  Christ, 
and  maintains  always  a  frame  of  heavenly-mindedness, 

Like  ships  at  sea,  while  in,  above  the  world, 

may  be  so  far  forth  a  greater  Christian,  than  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  who  pursues  his  business  for  Christ ;  there 
being  more  to  be  overcome  in  the  former  case,  greater 
difficulties  in  the  way,  and  perhaps  greater  temptations. 
And  certainly  a  man's  crown  of  glory  by  and  by  will  be 
determined  not  by  the  position  he  filled,  but  the  manner 
in  which  he  filled  it,  whatever  it  might  be  ;  the  sacrifices  he 
made,  whatever  they  were.  So  in  many  cases  the  last 
shall  be  first  and  the  first  last. 

So  the  poor  Widow  with  her  two  mites  may  have  in 
heaven  a  brighter  crown  than  even  rich  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  may  have  a  brighter 


208  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE. 

crown  than  some  of  those  who  preached  the  gospel  to  him. 
The  sacrifices  that  seemed  but  little  things  in  this  world — 
only  two  mites — may  be  found  great  things  in  that ;  may 
be  found  to  have  really  been  in  themselves  comparatively 
great  things  here,  and  to  be  in  their  results  infinitely 
greater  there.  But  ah  !  we  will  not  talk  about  sacrifices, 
for  we  make  none  in  comparison  with  Christ,  and  we  have 
none  but  in  him ;  the  great  thing  is  to  follow  Christ,  to 
have  the  sweet  readiness  to  give  up  all  to  him.  We  will 
not  undertake  to  compare  the  brightness  of  one  crown  and 
another,  though  it  be  true  that  one  star  differeth  from 
another  star  in  glory ;  but  we  will  strive  to  gain  the 
crown  at  any  rate. 

SEE  THAT  NO  MAN  TAKE  THY  CROWN. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  calling  of  Philip,  and  Philip's  work  upon  Nathaniel. — The  social  power 
and  impulse  of  Christianity. — Desirableness  of  Love  to  Christ  as  the  reign- 
ing feature  in  the  character. 

WE  proceed  in  our  investigation.  "  The  day  following, 
Jesus  would  go  forth  into  Galilee,  and  findeth  Philip,  and 
saith  unto  him,  Follow  me.  Now  Philip  was  of  Bethsaida, 
the  city  of  Andrew  and  Peter.  Philip  findeth  Nathaniel, 
and  saith  unto  him,  We  have  found  him,  of  whom  Moses 
in  the  law,  and  the  Prophets  did  write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  son  of  Joseph."  In  considering  this  comprehensive 
notice,  it  is  of  some  importance  to  determine  our  localities. 
At  this  time,  as  we  have  seen,  Jesus  was  at  Bethabara  on 
or  near  the  river  Jordan,  some  thirty  miles  east  from 
Jerusalem.  John,  Andrew,  Peter,  Philip,  and  Nathaniel 
were  all  at  the  same  time  in  this  same  village,  having 
gathered  thither  as  attendants  of  John's  ministry,  and  with 
the  feeling  that  the  time  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah 
was  drawing  nigh.  Bethsaida  and  Bethabara  were  some 
sixty  miles  apart,  Bethabara  on  the  Jordan  being  between 
sixty  and  seventy  miles  south  from  Galilee  and  the  Sea  or 
Lake  of  Tiberias,  where,  at  Bethsaida,  most  of  these  disci- 
ples had  their  residence.  They  had  travelled  all  this 
distance  from  that  village,  to  attend  upon  the  teachings,  or 
partake  in  the  baptism  of  John,  perhaps  moved  by  an 
inward  impulse  like  that  which  directed  the  wise  men  of 
the  East  in  pursuit  of  the  new-born  King  of  the  Jews. 
Our  Blessed  Lord  had  already  called  Peter,  Andrew, 


210  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  John,  and  made  them  familiar  with  his  residence  and 
himself,  this  being  the  morning  after  their  first  sacred 
interview  with  him.  They  had  been  his  guests  the  pre- 
ceding night,  as  it  would  seem,  halving  abode  with  him, 
because  it  was  so  late  in  the  day  when  they  entered  his 
dwelling.  And  now  this  morning  they  were  all  to  set  out 
with  Christ  on  a  journey  back  into  Galilee,  from  which 
region  they  had  all  come,  in  attendance  on  John's  baptism. 
They  were  not  now  to  follow  Christ  as  his  apostles  and 
commissioned  ministers,  but  were  first  to  return  back  for 
a  season  to  their  usual  occupations. 

Before  leaving  Bethabara  for  Galilee,  Jesus  found  Philip, 
another  of  John's  disciples,  who  had  likewise  come  down 
from  Bethsaida  with  the  same  purpose  as  the  others,  to 
enjoy  more  of  the  instructions  of  John,  and  if  possible  to 
discover  the  Messiah.  Philip,  Andrew,  and  Peter  were 
fellow-townsmen,  and  had  probably  been  in  habits  of  inti- 
macy from  their  childhood.  They  seem  to  have  been  of 
the  same  occupation,  and  they  had  evidently  received  the 
same  education  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  in  the  lessons 
of  the  temple  and  the  synagogue,  common  to  the  nation. 
They  were  fishermen  of  Bethsaida,  on  the  borders  of  the 
lovely  sea  of  Galilee.  In  their  study  of,  and  acquaintance 
with,  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  by  the  providential 
discipline  and  grace  of  God,  they  were  alike  prepared  for 
the  revelation  of  the  Messiah.  They  had  been  now  led, 
by  Divine  Providence,  to  Bethabara,  for  this  very  purpose, 
that  there  they  might  meet  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  and  for  this 
very  purpose  Christ  himself  had  come  to  Bethabara  at  this 
time,  to  show  himself  to  those  who  were  prepared  for  him, 
to  receive  particularly  these  disciples  from  John's  instruc- 
tions, and  to  return  with  them  into  their  native  province, 
where,  on  the  borders  of  their  native  lake,  he  would  after- 
wards give  them  their  final  call  to  the  ministry. 

But  there  was  yet  another  to  be  gathered,  and  Philip 
himself  was  to  begin  his  own  missionary  work  by  gather- 
ing him.  Nathaniel  was  of  the  village  of  Cana  of  Galilee, 


CHRIST     IN     THE    LIFE.  211 

a  town  about  fifteen  miles  from  Bethsaida,  between  the 
lake  of  Galilee  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  about  ten 
miles  north  from  Nazareth.  Nathaniel  was  an  acquaint- 
ance and  friend  of  Philip,  and  probably  likewise  of  Andrew, 
Peter,  and  John.  By  the  same  heavenly  impulse  with 
which  Andrew,  the  preceding  day,  went  in  search  of 
Peter,  Philip  now,  this  morning,  before  setting  out  for 
Galilee,  went  in  search  of  Nathaniel.  Christ  was  now 
gathering  his  disciples,  his  Apostles,  and  it  is  remarkable 
with  what  a  fervent  spirit  of  love,  and  happy,  holy,  zealous 
labor,  they  set  out.  It  does  not  appear  that  Christ  gave 
Philip  any  special  instructions  on  this  point,  but  Philip's 
own  heart  led  him.  When  our  Lord  told  Philip  that  they 
must  that  day  set  out  from  Bethabara  on  their  return  to 
Galilee,  Philip  may  have  said,  as  Andrew  did  in  the  case 
of  Peter,  Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  find  Nathaniel. 
Having  found  the  Messiah  himself,  he  could  not,  would 
not,  delay  communicating  the  glad  tidings  to  his  friend 
from  Cana. 

All  these  men  had  come  from  Bethsaida  and  Cana  to 
Bethabara,  to  be  more  fully  instructed  of  John.  They 
were  fellow-students  and  disciples  under  John  ;  they  were 
to  be  so,  likewise,  under  Christ.  They  were  about  the 
same  age,  nor  is  it  likely  that  any  of  them  were  more 
than  thirty.  Having  all  come  from  Galilee,  and  three  or 
four  of  them  being  fellow-townsmen,  and  united  in  the 
same  occupation,  they  were  intimate  and  enthusiastic  in 
their  opinions.  They  were  evidently  of  the  better  class 
in  Galilee,  much  above  the  ordinary  character  and  attain- 
ments of  their  countrymen.  And  the  great  reason  was, 
that  their  minds  had  been  excited  and  drawn  out  in  regard 
to  the  day  of  redemption  for  Israel ;  they  had  been  study- 
ing the  Word  of  God,  and  waiting  on  his  law  in  the 
Temple,  and  looking  and  longing  for  the  coming  of  the 
Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  the  Desire  of  Nations.  Now 
it  matters  little  how  much  darkness  and  how  many  wrong 
views  to  be  corrected,  there  may  have  existed,  mingled 


212  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

with  these  expectations ;  the  excitement  of  their  minds 
and  the  enkindling  of  their  desires  on  this  subject  tended 
to  raise  their  character.  How  often  in  the  stillness  of  the 
cloudless  nights  on  the  lake  of  Galilee,  beneath  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  while  they  were  busied  in  casting  their  nets, 
or  in  the  intervals  of  quiet,  they  may  have  meditated  on 
the  rising  of  the  promised  Deliverer,  and  conversed  about 
him,  with  hearts  burning  within  them,  and  with  desires 
increased  by  such  communion,  for  the  freedom  of  their 
country. 

Among  these  four,  the  narrative  indicates  that  Philip 
was  particularly  intimate  in  friendship  with  Nathaniel. 
It  is  very  possible  that  they  two  may  have  come  from 
Galilee  in  company ;  and  therefore  Philip  would  not  leave 
Judea  without  Nathaniel,  more  especially  as  their  object 
in  coming  must  have  been  the  same.  And  we  may  add  to 
the  remarks  above  made  on  the  character  of  these  disci- 
ples, that  the  endearing  intimacy  of  such  men  as  Philip  and 
Nathaniel  evidently  were,  from  the  testimony  of  Christ  in 
regard  to  Nathaniel  particularly,  is  itself  proof  of  more 
than  ordinary  refinement,  and  may  indicate  high  qualities 
both  of  feeling  and  of  intellect.  Philip's  first  mission,  after 
finding  Christ  himself,  was  to  find  Nathaniel  for  Christ,  to 
tell  him  of  Christ.  And  his  first  declaration  to  Nathaniel 
was  out  of  the  Old  Testament.  We  have  found  him,  of 
whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  Prophets,  did  write,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  the  Son  of  Joseph. 

The  manner  of  this  address  intimates  several  things. 
It  was  such,  in  the  first  place,  as  to  argue  that  the  Messiah 
had  been  the  subject  and  object  of  their  united  expecta- 
tion and  search.  They  had  together  looked  for  him  in  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures,  in  the  Law  and  in  the  Prophets. 
And  without  any  doubt  they  had  searched  the  Scriptures 
with  prayer.  How  many  intensely  interesting  hours 
they  may  have  spent  together,  pondering  over  the  sacred 
records,  comparing  promises  with  promises,  searching  what 
or  what  manner  of  time  the  Holy  Spirit  had  signified,  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  213 

noting  also  the  signs  of  the  times,  especially  since  John 
began  his  remarkable  mission  and  his  baptism.  How  many 
hours  they  may  have  spent  in  prayer  for  light,  and  how 
many  times  they  may  have  helped  and  encouraged  each 
other  in  their  investigations. 

It  would  intimate  also  that  the  very  object  of  their 
journey  to  Bethabara  had  been  some  indefinite  expectation 
that  Christ  himself  would  or  might  even  then  and  there 
appear.  They  thought  he  might  come  at  any  time.  The 
whole  people  were  in  expectation  of  him,  and  began  to 
muse  in  their  hearts  whether  John  himself  were  not  the 
Christ.  And  now  Philip  comes  to  Nathaniel,  crying,  We 
have  found  him  !  we  have  found  him  !  Him  of  whom 
Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  Prophets,  did  write ;  the  same 
for  whose  coming  we  have  watched,  and  searched,  and 
waited  for  so  long.  It  is  He  !  There  is  no  more  doubt 
\vhatever  in  regard  to  it.  It  is  not  John,  but  He,  whom 
John,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  hath  showed  us. 

And  who  was  he,  if  not  John  ?  Who  was  it  that  John 
had  pointed  out  as  the  Messiah,  and  that  Philip  was  now 
resting  upon  with  such  unhesitating  confidence,  as  indeed 
the  Christ  ?  The  manner  of  Philip's  address  intimates  also 
that  Jesus  himself  was  not  unknown,  at  least  by  reputation, 
to  both  Philip  and  Nathaniel,  even  before  this  visit  to 
Bethabara.  We  have  found  him,  cried  Philip,  and  it  is 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph.  This  mode  of 
announcement  indicates  evidently  that  they  had  heard 
before  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph.  There 
had  already  been  something  very  remarkable  in  his  cha- 
racter and  actions,  which  had  drawn  the  notice  of  the 
villages  and  people  round  about  his  native  village  upon 
him.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph,  was  one,  of 
whom  Nathaniel  had  heard  in  Cana,  and  Philip  in  Beth- 
saida.  And  now  Philip  comes  to  Nathaniel  with  the 
extraordinary  announcement,  that  the  very  Messiah,  the 
Christ,  the  Anointed  of  God,  is  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  son  of  Joseph.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  had  the 


214  liRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

least  fear  that  his  message  would  be  disbelieved,  that  either 
his  glad  tidings  would  be  doubted,  or  the  manner  of  them 
be  received  with  any  incredulity  ;  and  so  he  makes  no 
difficulty  of  announcing  at  once  that  the  revealed  Messiah 
is  simply  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph.  This 
shows  in  a  very  vivid  light,  the  greatness  of  Philip's  faith, 
the  complete,  triumphant,  unquestioning  assurance  in  his 
own  mind  that  Jesus  was  indeed  the  Messiah.  And  the 
manner  in  which  the  same  conviction  took  possession  of 
Nathaniel's  soul,  after  he  had  also  seen  Christ,  shows  the 
same  extraordinary  power  of  faith  in  him.  But  upon  the 
manner  of  Nathaniel's  reception  of  the  news  we  will  not 
dwell  any  further  at  present,  but  will  leave  the  whole 
company  of  these  newly  gathered,  and  fervently  believing 
disciples  with  Christ,  in  their  joyful,  happy  communion 
with  him  and  with  one  another,  drinking  in  his  instruc- 
tions. Meantime  we  proceed  to  gather  up  some  of  the 
lessons  arising  thus  far  out  of  our  examination  of  their 
behavior. 

There  is  here  depicted  the  very  soul  and  life  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  its  loving,  social,  missionary,  sympathizing  spirit. 
These  men  had  been  struggling  in  the  darkness,  and  now 
they  saw  the  dawn  and  the  bright  day  together.  They 
had  sympathized  with  each  other  in  their  fears,  desires, 
perplexities,  prayers,  and  now  they  thought  of  one  another 
and  not  of  themselves  alone,  when  relief  began  to  appear. 
They  began  to  see  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise,  for 
whose  appearance  they  had  been  watching  at  times  all 
night  long ;  and  the  first  who  beheld  the  light,  ran  to 
report  it  to  the  other.  Its  revelation  to  them  was  the 
very  fulfilment  of  the  promise  with  which  the  Old  Testa- 
ment closes,  "  Behold,  I  will  send  my  Messenger,  and  he 
shall  prepare  the  way  before  me  :  And  the  Lord,  whom  ye 
seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple,  even  the  messen- 
ger of  the  Covenant,  whom  ye  delight  in.  And  unto  you 
that  fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise, 
with  healing  in  his  wings  ;  and  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  grow 


CHRIST    IN     THE    LIFE.  215 

up  as  calves  of  the  stall."  This  was  literally  fulfilled,  first 
of  all,  in  these  believing,  fearing,  loving  disciples.  And 
in  them  was  fulfilled  that  other  passage  in  the  same  predic- 
tion, where  God  says,  "  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord 
spake  often  one  to  another  :  and  the  Lord  hearkened  and 
heard  :  and  a  book  of  remembrance  was  written  before 
him  for  them  that  feared  the  Lord,  and  that  thought  upon 
his  name.  And  they  shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
in  that  day  when  I  make  up  my  jewels  ;  and  I  will  spare 
them,  as  a  man  spareth  his  own  son  that  serveth  him." 

This  beautiful  passage  had  its  accomplishment  first  of 
all  in  these  same  disciples,  that  they  might  be  to  the  glory 
of  God,  who  first  trusted  in  Christ.  Even  before  Christ's 
manifestation  to  Israel  they  had  feared  the  Lord,  and 
thought  upon  his  name,  and  spake  often  one  to  another, 
and  in  this  humble,  anxious,  gentle,  teachable,  fearing 
frame,  they  had  come  to  John,  the  messenger  and  fore- 
runner of  Christ,  and  now  the  Lord  had  claimed  them  as 
his  own  ;  now  when  he  was  beginning  to  make  up  his 
jewels,  he  received  these  jewels  from  John,  as  among  the 
brightest  in  the  crown. 

These  happy  disciples  were  now  united  in  conversion, 
and  each  one  was  made  the  instrument  of  blessing  the 
other.  Philip  and  Nathaniel,  Andrew,  Peter,  and  John, 
co-operated  with  Christ,  and  with  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  It  was  a  most  delightful,  simple,  thorough,  hearty 
work  of  Christian  love.  Friends  began  with  friends, 
relatives  with  relatives.  Presently  we  see  the  circle 
enlarging,  but  here  it  is  small  and  distinctly  visible.  Each 
rising  wave  is  apparent,  and  we  see  how  it  spreads,  each 
circling  ripple  on  the  lake  of  love,  before  there  are  so  many 
of  them,  and  so  vast  and  deep  and  widening,  that  we  can 
no  more  trace  them  but  as  one  common  impulse,  one  grand 
heaving  and  waving  in  the  mighty  sea.  In  this  simple 
early  life  of  Christianity,  every  infant,  missionary  impulse 
of  sympathy  and  love  is  visible,  and  can  be  counted. 
First  come  John,  Andrew,  and  Peter,  then  Philip,  then 


216  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Nathaniel ;  and  then  the  wave  that  starts  at  Bethabara 
from  the  person  of  Christ,  spreads  all  over  Galilee  and 
Judea,  and  then  over  the  world.  It  is  a  Missionary  wave, 
and  here  is  the  very  life  of  Christianity,  the  very  essence 
of  discipleship,  and  the  very  way  of  the  world's  evange- 
lization. Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  than  the  working 
of  this  principle  of  the  socialism  of  grace,  the  social  prin- 
ciple and  power  of  Christianity.  It  is  a  sympathizing, 
impulsive,  progressive,  diffusive  life.  It  is  the  leaven  of 
the  world,  which  will  work  till  the  whole  is  leavened. 
And  it  works,  where  it  works  at  all,  with  an  accumulating, 
accelerating  tendency  and  power. 

We  learn,  moreover,  from  this  examination  of  the  early 
conversion  of  the  Apostles,  the  need  of  a  preparation  in 
the  heart  for  the  clear  perception  of  the  glory  of  the 
Redeemer's  character,  and  for  the  hearty,  cordial  submis- 
sion of  the  soul  to  him  in  affectionate  confidence  and 
obedience.  It  is  evident  beyond  doubt  that  these  disciples 
and  apostles,  to  whom  Christ  was  thus  made  known,  were 
prepared  for  the  revelation  of  him,  and  prepared  to  receive 
him  with  joy,  by  previous  humiliation,  discipline,  study, 
and  prayer.  They  were  not  plucked  from  carelessness 
and  indifference  as  by  a  sudden  miracle,  just  as  if  God 
had  raised  up  children  unto  Abraham  from  the  stones  in 
the  street.  They  were  selected  because  there  had  been 
going  on  that  previous,  secret,  unnoticed,  unknown  process 
of  discipline  with  them,  and  of  sacred  anxiety  in  their 
minds  and  hearts.  They  had  been  religious  inquirers,  of 
a  long  time,  and  it  was  fit  that  the  light  should  first  fall 
upon  them,  as  they  were  the  nearest  to  it,  and  best  pre- 
pared for  it. 

Nor  were  they  illiterate  men,  as  is  commonly  charged 
upon  them,  that  is,  ignorant,  rude,  rabble-men.  But  they 
were  men,  to  a  good  degree,  of  cultivated  minds,  suscepti- 
ble of  strong  friendships,  and  men  of  much  refinement  of 
the  social  qualities,  not  the  refinement  of  the  fashionable 
world  in  manners,  but  of  the  natural  feelings,  of  true  sim- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  217 

plicity  of  character,  of  happy  family  affection,  and  of  pure 
morality.  They  were  not  coarse  men,  of  hardened  feel- 
ings and  manners,  but  they  were  gentle  in  their  character, 
though  some  of  them  impetuous,  and  they  were  regardful 
of  each  other's  happiness ;  and  in  such  respects  they  were 
truly  refined,  however  incongruous  we  might  regard  the  title 
of  gentlemen  as  applied  to  them. 

They  were  united  in  the  study  of  God's  Word.  They 
were  not  ignorant  of  that  which  was  the  only  source  of 
true  wisdom  then  on  earth.  And  no  man  could  have  been 
called  ignorant  who  was  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures, 
whatever  of  human  learning  might  have  been  a  blank. 
Their  Scriptural  learning  alone  would  have  kept  them  from 
grossness,  and  made  them  educated.  Neither  could  any 
man  or  men  have  been,  or  been  called,  gross  or  hardened, 
who  could  at  once  see  and  appreciate,  as  they  did,  the 
beauty  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  character,  and  the  internal 
power  of  the  evidence  thence  resulting  of  his  being  indeed 
the  Messiah.  The  very  fact  of  their  intuitive  perception 
of  that  evidence,  their  deep,  all-subduing  sense  of  the 
power  of  it,  shows  a  quality  of  mind  and  character,  a 
habit  of  discernment,  a  wisdom  of  the  understanding,  an 
illumination  of  the  soul,  far  above  that  of  the  common 
multitude. 

For  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  they  had  no  miracle 
to  rest  upon,  but  simply  the  sight  of  Jesus  in  his  sim- 
plicity and  lowliness,  his  benevolent  meekness  and  love. 
But  that  sight  carried  away  all  their  prejudices,  and  toge- 
ther with  the  testimony  of  John,  the  conversation  of  Jesus 
completely  subdued  and  assured  them.  This  would  have 
been  by  no  means  so  remarkable,  had  Christ  wrought  a 
great  miracle  on  the  spot,  as  he  did  a  few  days  afterwards 
in  Cana  of  Galilee,  where  many  believed  in  him  in  conse- 
quence of  that  miracle.  But  here  was  no  miracle.  Had 
Christ  chosen  to  work  one,  then  without  doubt  a  multitude 
among  the  crowd  that  were  gathering  after  John  might 
have  flocked  to  Jesus,  very  few  of  whom,  if  any,  would 

10 


218  GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 

have  seen,  as  Andrew,  Peter,  John,  Philip,  and  Nathaniel 
saw,  the  celestial  and  convincing  glory  and  beauty  of 
Christ's  own  character  and  conversation.  But  these  men, 
becoming  experimentally  acquainteji  with  Christ,  began  at 
once  to  feel  that  he  was  in  himself  a  greater,  more  con- 
vincing miracle,  in  his  own  nature  as  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  than  any  miracle  he  himself  could  have  wrought  for 
their  conviction.  They  came  personally  to  Christ,  and 
there  was  the  end,  as  there  always  is,  on  such  acquaint- 
ance, of  all  their  hesitation  and  unbelief. 

Now  this  was  to  them  the  greatest  of  all  blessings,  for 
heaven  was  opened  to  them  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thenceforth  they  rested  on  him  with  an  affectionate 
confidence,  that  nothing  ever  could  or  did  diminish  or 
shake.  Their  attachment  was  intense  ;  indeed  it  was  sub- 
lime, though  so  completely  unawares  and  unostentatious  ; 
and  the  production  and  sustaining  of  it  was  a  sublime  and 
beautiful  exhibition  of  the  power  of  Christ's  character,  of 
the  Saviour's  infinite  loveliness.  No  other  being  but  he, 
could,  under  such  circumstances,  so  have  won  and  retained 
their  affections.  For  he  beat  down  all  their  pride, 
destroyed  all  the  illusions  they  had  entertained,  all  their 
fond  hopes  of  a  temporal  deliverer,  and  preached  to  them 
plainly  his  own  and  their  sufferings.  He  taught  them  that 
his  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  but  of  heaven,  not 
temporal  but  spiritual,  not  of  ease  and  plenty  here,  but 
poverty  and  trial.  He  taught  them  that  through  much 
tribulation  they  must  enter  into  that  kingdom.  He  re- 
buked their  prejudices,  chastised  their  worldly  expecta- 
tions, and  bade  them  take  up  the  cross  daily,  and  follow 
him.  And  yet,  how  fervently  they  loved  him  !  It  was 
the  work  of  God's  Spirit  in  their  hearts,  but  it  was 
developed  thus  strongly  and  at  once,  from  the  outset,  in 
ardent  love  to  Christ,  because  they  had  been  disciplined 
and  prepared  beforehand,  their  hearts  had  been  softened, 
and  fitted  by  the  spiritual  influences  of  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation  and  Scriptures,  to  receive  Christ's  image,  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  219 

impress  of  his  lovely  character ;  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
made  it  shine  and  live  within  them. 

Their  hearts  came  to  Christ  through  the  devout  paths 
of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  taught  and  led  by  them  as 
their  heavenly  schoolmasters,  and  thus  prepared,  this  con- 
straining love  of  Christ  became  evermore  the  reigning 
feature  in  their  characters.  Desirable  beyond  expression 
it  is,  that  such  should  always  be  the  introduction  of  the 
soul  to  Christ,  such  and  so  clear  the  beholding  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  loveliness  and  glory  of  his  character  from 
the  outset.  Desirable  beyond  expression  it  is  that  the 
belief  of  the  soul  should  not  rest  in  any  external  evidence, 
either  of  miracles  or  anything  else,  but  in  Christ,  in  an 
experimental  knowledge  of  him,  in  the  individual,  personal 
discovery  of  the  truth  of  such  a  Saviour.  The  path  of  a 
soul  that  sets  out  thus,  in,  with,  and  from  a  lively  attach- 
ment to  Christ,  will  be  (if  this  love  continues,  as  it  did,  in 
the  case  of  these  early,  interesting  converts)  a  path  shin- 
ing more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  And  indeed  it 
is  this  personal  absorbing  love  to  Christ  that  we  want 
greatly  in  our  modern  Christianity. 

Furthermore,  we  remark  it  as  a  clear  thing  that  the  call 
of  Christ  must  be  obeyed,  and  men  must  come  to  him,  or 
they  cannot  expect  to  be  saved.  The  things  connected 
with  him,  and  with  the  salvation  of  the  soul  by  him,  must 
be  the  things  of  greatest,  yea,  of  absorbing  interest,  to 
which  men  must  be  willing  to  give  time,  attention,  study, 
and  heart.  If  they  are  not  ready  to  do  this,  they  can 
expect  no  benefit  from  Christ.  They  cannot  expect  to  be 
plucked  against  their  own  will  from  their  occupations,  and 
compelled  into  Christ's  house,  but  they  must  come  when 
invited,  come  to  him,  and  follow  him,  and  then  shall  they 
know,  if  they  follow  on  to  know,  the  Lord.  These  simple- 
hearted,  interesting  men,  are  examples.  To  find  Christ, 
they  of  their  own  accord  left  their  occupations,  and  it 
must  have  been  at  a  costly  sacrifice  in  their  business,  for 
they  depended  on  that  for  their  subsistence,  and  yet  they 


220  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

left  all,  and  travelled  with  and  after  John  the  Baptist  into 
Southern  Judea,  and  there  they  were  abiding  in  their  pur- 
suit after  Christ,  when  Christ  met  them.  Now  such 
simple,  sincere,  earnest  devotion  td>  their  great  object, 
could  not  but  be  successful.  It  always  is.  And  if  half 
this  holy  diligence,  this  determined  self-denying  earnest- 
ness, were  exercised  by  men  now,  in  pursuit  after  Christ, 
never  an  individual  would  fail  in  finding  him.  But  where 
is  the  man  who  would  leave  his  worldly  business  for  a 
week  for  the  matter  of  his  salvation,  on  grounds  of  such 
evidence  as  these  blessed  men  went  upon  ?  Where  is  the 
man,  who  would  leave  his  business  for  a  week,  and  go  to 
a  distant  part  of  the  country,  to  attend  the  ministry  of  an 
Evangelist,  from  whom  his  soul  might  get  some  light 
respecting  Christ  ?  We  accuse  the  Jews  of  hardness  of 
heart  and  blindness  of  mind,  but  truly  these  Jews  set  us 
an  example,  which  would  to  God  the  men  of  this  day 
would  follow.  Would  to  God  there  were  half  the  sim- 
plicity of  heart  in  the  multitude  now  that  there  was  then ! 
There  must  be  this  simplicity  of  devotion  to  the  business 
of  seeking  Christ,  or  how  can  men  be  expected  to  find 
him  ? 

And  Oh  !  for  that  constant,  childlike  trust  in  the 
Redeemer,  that  ever  follows  this  simple  obedience  to  his 
call.  Let  the  soul  keep  near  him,  that  hath  come  to  him. 
Let  not  that  humble  trust  be  spoiled  by  self-confidence,  or 
choked  by  earthly  weeds  of  vain  desire.  Let  not  the 
world  creep  back  again  into  that  heart,  which  has  itself 
come  out  from  the  world  to  find  and  follow  Christ.  With 
the  same  earnestness  with  which  you  come  to  him,  yea, 
and  with  a  far  more  steady  and  sustained  intensity  of 
purpose,  you  are  now  to  follow  hard  after  him,  and  his 
right  hand  shall  uphold  you. 

I  thirst,  but  not  as  once  I  did, 

The  vain  delights  of  earth  to  share  ; 
Thy  wounds,  Emmanuel,  all  forbid 

That  I  should  seek  my  pleasures  there. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  221 

It  was  the  sight  of  thy  dear  cross 

First  weaned  my  soul  from  earthly  things, 

And  taught  me  to  esteem  as  dross 

The  mirth  of  fools,  and  pomp  of  kings. 

I  want  that  grace  that  springs  from  Thee, 

That  quickens  all  things  where  it  flows, 
And  makes  a  wretched  thorn  like  me 

Bloom  as  the  myrtle  or  the  rose. 

Dear  fountain  of  delight  unknown ! 

No  longer  sink  below  the  brim, 
But  overflow,  and  pour  me  down 

A  living  and  life-giving  stream. 

For  sure,  of  all  the  plants  that  share 

The  notice  of  thy  Father's  eye, 
None  proves  less  grateful  to  his  care, 

Or  yields  him  meaner  fruit  thaii  I. 

COWPER. 


them    lor   trie    worn,    ui    m 
Apostles.     The  process,  as  it  proceeds,  is  still  more  inte- 
resting. 

Nathaniel  was  a  man  of  great  integrity  and  true  sim- 
plicity of  character.  The  description  given  of  him  by  our 
Lord  is  truly  wonderful,  considered  as  pronounced  upon  a 
mortal  by  him  who  trieth  the  reins  and  searcheth  the  heart. 
Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile !  That  is, 
Behold  a  humble,  and  believing  mind,  a  man  of  a  contrite, 
upright  spirit,  who  trembleth  at  God's  Word,  and  is  wait- 
ing and  longing  for  the  consolation  of  Israel,  even  like 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  228 

Simeon  in  the  Temple.  It  was  the  description  of  a  true 
Christian,  a  man  who  lived  by  faith,  although  the  Redeemer 
had  not  yet  been  made  known  to  him.  a  just  man,  who 
waited  upon  God,  and  on  whose  path  God  was  shining. 
And  God's  light  shone  upon  him  in  answer  to  prayer,  for 
Nathaniel  was  a  man  of  prayer.  He  had  been  engaged 
in  prayer  just  before  Philip  found  him.  There  was  a 
retired  place  beneath  the  thick  broad  shade  of  a  spreading 
fig-tree,  where  he,  and  in  all  probability  sometimes  Philip 
with  him.  was  accustomed  in  secret  to  pour  out  his  soul 
before  God,  or  to  meditate,  Isaac-like,  at  evening-tide,  and 
think  upon  his  country  and  its  redemption.  It  was  there 
that  Philip  found  Nathaniel.  It  was  there,  at  this  early 
hour  in  the  morning,  before  setting  out  for  Galilee,  that  he 
went  first  of  all  to  seek  him,  there  in  the  place  of  prayer. 


The  calin  retreat,  the  silent  shade, 
With  prayer  and  praise  agree, 

And  seem  by  thy  sweet  bounty  made, 
For  those  who  worship  Thee. 


Sweet  indeed,  under  Oriental  climes,  are  such  retirements 
for  the  worship  of  God. 

Nathaniel  was  prepared  by  his  communion  with  God 
for  an  interview  with  Christ,  for  the  sight  and  assurance 
of  his  Divine  character,  and  for  the  hearty  reception  of 
his  grace,  as  the  soul's  only  Saviour.  "  No  man  can  come 
to  me,  except  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me,  draw  him." 
God  had  been  drawing  Philip,  and  now  he  was  drawing 
Nathaniel.  He  had  been  drawing  them  both,  by  his  Word, 
and  preparing  them,  by  the  earnest,  humble  study  of  the 
prophets  and  the  law,  to  behold  him,  of  whom  Moses  in 
the  law,  and  the  prophets  did  write.  He  had  been  draw- 
ing and  preparing  them  by  his  Spirit  and  with  his  Word, 
and  Philip  had  found  Christ,  and  this  was  the  day  in  which 
Christ  was  to  be  revealed  to  Nathaniel,  and  the  revelation 
was  made  in  answer  to  prayer.  In  prayer  Nathaniel  had 


224  GRACfi    AND    TRUTH, 

been  drawing  nigh  to  God ;  in  prayer  the  eye  of  the 
Omniscient  Saviour  had  been  fixed  upon  him.  Jesus 
beheld  him  under  the  fig-tree,  and  as  it  was  said  of  Saul, 
Behold  he  prayeth,  go  therefore,  anql  disclose  to  him  his 
Lord,  so  now  of  Nathaniel,  Behold  he  prayeth  ;  and  Philip's 
own  heart,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  at 
the  word  of  Christ,  led  him  to  Nathaniel  praying,  to  tell 
him  of  the  Saviour.  It  is  interesting  and  instructive  to 
trace  these  introductory  steps,  this  introductory  discipline. 

But  Nathaniel's  first  exclamation  is  that  of  apparent 
incredulity.  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? 
"  We  have  found  him,"  said  Philip,  "  of  whom  Moses  in  the 
law,  and  the  Prophets  did  write.  We  have  certainly  found 
him.  And  whom  do  you  think  it  can  be  ?  None  other 
than  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph !"  Nathaniel 
evidently  did  not  expect  such  an  announcement  as  this. 
He  partook  of  the  common  prejudice  against  Nazareth, 
and  remembered  and  felt  that  prejudice  at  once,  when 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  mentioned.  But  notwithstanding 
that,  he  made  no  further  objection  than  was  contained 
in  his  question.  And  the  fact  that  this  prejudice  existed 
in  his  mind  so  strongly,  sets  more  strikingly  in  view  the 
greatness  of  the  faith,  by  which  afterwards,  on  the  sight 
of  Christ  himself,  he  overcame  it. 

Philip  entered  into  no  argument  with  him  ;  he  was  too 
much  in  haste  to  bring  him  immediately  to  Christ.  He 
knew  that  the  knowledge  of  Christ  personally  would  do 
for  him  what  it  had  done  for  himself,  remove  all  difficulty, 
and  fix  his  heart.  He  cared  nothing  about  his  objections, 
so  he  could  but  get  him  to  Christ,  for  that,  he  knew,  would 
clear  up  all.  Can  any  good-  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? 
Come  and  see,  answered  Philip  ;  only  come  and  see ! 
There  was  a  triumphant  gladness  and  haste  in  Philip's 
manner.  It  was  the  gladness  of  an  assurance  without 
doubt  in  his  own  mind  ;  it  was  the  triumph  of  faith  in  a 
heart  that  had  found  its  resting-place,  and  felt  that  it  could 
convert  the  whole  world,  could  it  only  bring  the  world  to 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  225 

Christ.  Come  and  see,  said  Philip,  that's  all.  No  time 
now  to  discuss  our  difficulties.  Jesus  is  going  to-day  to 
Galilee.  Come  and  see !  So  he  laid  hold  upon  him  and 
hurried  him  away  to  Christ. 

Now  the  Blessed  Saviour  had  seen  all  this ;  seen  Na- 
thaniel under  the  fig-tree,  seen  Philip  coming  to  him,  seen 
with  delight  the  happy  zeal  of  his  disciples.  And  now  he 
beheld  Nathaniel  coming,  and  to  show  him  that  he  knew 
him,  he  said,  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no 
guile !  Nathaniel,  astonished  at  this  announcement,  said 
to  him,  Whence  knowest  thou  me  ?  He  had  never  met 
with  Jesus,  whatever  he  might  have  heard  said  in  Galilee 
concerning  the  son  of  Joseph,  and  he  knew  that  he  him- 
self was  unknown  personally  to  Jesus.  And  he  knew  not 
what  to  make  of  this  declaration.  But  Jesus  answered 
and  said  unto  him,  Before  that  Philip  called  thee,  when 
thou  wast  under  the  jig-tree,  I  saw  thee.  Nathaniel,  con- 
vinced by  this  manifestation  of  supernatural  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  the  being  before  him,  and  powerfully  affected 
at  the  appeal  to  his  own  thoughts,  to  the  exercises  of  his 
soul  in  secret  prayer,  felt  at  once  that  Philip's  message  to 
him  was  the  truth,  and  that  he  had  indeed  found  the 
Messiah.  The  image  of  all  that  his  soul  had  been  seeking 
after,  all  that  had  been  revealed  and  foreshadowed  in  the 
Scriptures,  rose  up  before  him,  and  he  saw  in  Christ  real- 
ized the  idea  of  that  Being,  of  whose  nature,  form,  glory, 
and  character  he  had  been  striving  to  gain  a  more  definite 
conception  and  knowledge.  He  was  convinced  at  once  ; 
his  doubts  and  difficulties  vanished ;  he  felt  somewhat  as 
the  two  disciples  did,  when  the  risen  Saviour  was  made 
known  to  them  in  the  breaking  of  bread.  It  was  the 
Messiah,  the  Anointed  of  God  !  It  was  he,  whom  his  soul 
had  been  seeking,  he  whom  God  had  promised  to  Israel. 
He  felt  it,  he  knew  it,  he  surrendered  his  whole  soul  to  the 
rapturous  conviction.  And  he  answered  and  said  unto 
him,  Rabbi,  thou  art  the  Son  of  God ;  thou  art  the  King 
of  Israel ! 

10* 


226  GRACE    AND   TRUTH, 

Had  not  Nathaniel  been  indeed  the  Israelite  without 
guile,  as  our  Lord  had  described  his  character,  his  faith 
would  not  have  been  thus  unhesitating.  But  to  the  up- 
right there  ariseth  a  light  in  the  darllness.  Nathaniel  had 
come  to  the  light,  and  believed  in  the  light,  for  his  heart 
was  seeking  light,  and  was  open  to  conviction,  and  this 
was  a  great  declaration  of  his  faith,  greater  perhaps,  and 
more  explicit  than  any  disciple  had  as  yet  attained  to. 
And  thereupon  followed  the  approving  smile  and  welcome 
of  his  Saviour.  For  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
Because  I  said  unto  thee,  I  saw  thee  under  the  fig-tree, 
believest  thou  ?  Thou  shalt  see  greater  things  than  these. 
And  he  saith  unto  him,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  here- 
after ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of  God 
ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  man. — This 
was  the  close  of  the  present  interview,  or  rather,  this  is 
all  that  is  recorded  of  the  present  conversation  ;  a  con- 
versation, however,  which  doubtless  was  continued  in  much 
greater  detail  than  we  have  any  account  of. 

They  were  now  to  set  out  with  Christ  from  Bethsaida, 
all  these  five  disciples,  John,  Peter,  Andrew,  Philip,  and 
Nathaniel,  leaving  John  the  Baptist  still  baptizing  in  Jor- 
dan, and  teaching  the  people  concerning  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  It  was  a  happy  journey  after  this,  their  journey 
back  into  Galilee.  How  constantly,  and  with  what  deep 
earnestness  and  interest  would  they  converse  by  the  way ! 
What  sacred  instruction  would  our  Blessed  Lord  pour  into 
their  minds,  or  cause  to  distil  softly  like  the  dew  upon 
them,  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it.  We  know  his  method 
of  teaching,  so  familiar,  so  illustrative,  so  simple.  Every 
incident,  by  the  way- side,  every  aspect  of  nature,  every 
homely,  well-known  truth  of  the  physical  world,  he  would 
draw  into  spiritual  wisdom.  Beneath  the  clear  sun  of 
Judea,  amidst  the  ripening  corn  fields  and  luxuriant  vine- 
yards, they  travelled  towards  Galilee.  They  were  to  stop 
at  Cana,  and  there  the  Saviour  was  to  manifest  the  first 
outshining  demonstration  of  his  glory  to  the  public  eye ;  a 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  227 

demonstration,  however  glorious,  yet  far  inferior  to  that, 
which  these  dear  disciples  were  now  enjoying  daily.  But 
we  leave  them  for  the  present,  and  return  to  gather  up 
some  of  the  lessons  presented  in  the  conversion  of 
Nathaniel. 

And  first,  all  that  we  have  previously  said  concerning 
the  elevated  character  of  the  disciples  finds  here  a  cor- 
roboration.  Nathaniel  was  evidently  a  man  of  prayer,  a 
student  of  the  Scriptures,  a  devout  man,  a  man  of  refine- 
ment of  feeling.  The  character  given  of  him  by  our 
Blessed  Lord  is  such,  that  no  man  who  possessed  it  could 
fail  of  being  a  man  held  in  high  estimation  by  his  country- 
men and  those  who  knew  him.  He  was  unquestionably  a 
man  of  education  and  respectability.  The  piety  of  his 
mind  and  life  was  such,  that  Christ  himself  remarked  it. 
It  must  therefore  have  been  uncommon  and  peculiar ; 
but  it  was  altogether  of  grace,  acting  upon  a  childlike, 
natural  substratum  of  character,  and  preparing  it  for  the 
Saviour's  kingdom.  The  disciples  were  all  thus  fitted  for 
his  service.  They  were  not  chosen  at  hazard,  as  it  were, 
from  the  rough  material  of  human  nature,  but  they  had 
been  in  training  by  the  Spirit  and  the  Word  of  God  for 
years.  And  they  were  all  selected,  likewise,  for  particular 
natural,  but  varied  features  of  character,  which,  under  the 
dominion  of  grace,  would  be  developed  for  the  glory  of  the 
Saviour  in  advancing  his  kingdom.  If  Nathaniel's  cha- 
racter was  thus  remarkable,  we  are  to  remember  also  that 
Philip  was  evidently  his  near,  dear,  intimate  friend,  and 
therefore  of  some  similarity  of  character,  taste,  and  attain- 
ments. A  man  is  known  by  his  company,  and  next  to  the 
testimony  of  Christ  himself  as  to  Nathaniel's  great  excel- 
lence, «vould  be  the  assurance,  as  to  Philip,  that  he  was 
beloved  of  Nathaniel,  the  intimate  friend  of  Nathaniel. 
We  are  justified  in  supposing  that  both  these  men  were 
men  of  rare  excellence  of  character. 

And  though  they  were  men  of  genuine  simplicity  of 
nature,  they  were  also  men  of  quick  discernment,  and  not 


228  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

to  be  imposed  upon.  The}'  saw  the  evidence  of  Christ's 
divinity  at  once,  and  felt,  and  rested  upon  it.  They  saw 
in  a  moment  that  he  was  no  pretender,  nor  any  ambitious, 
or  ostentatious,  or  presuming  leader,  but  the  genuine 
heavenly  glory  of  his  character  shone  with  power  upon 
their  understandings  and  hearts.  Children,  and  men  of 
true  simplicity  of  mind,  are  the  quickest  intuitive  judges 
of  character  in  the  world.  Perhaps  such  persons  may  not 
be  able  to  trace  the  process  by  which  they  come  to  a  con- 
clusion, but  the  conclusion  is  almost  always  right.  They 
form  their  opinion  often  at  first  sight,  but  it  is  unerring. 
Philip  and  Nathaniel  were  guided  not  only  by  their 
natural  intuitive  simplicity  and  frankness  of  disposition, 
but  they-  had  been  imbued  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures,  were  men  of  prayer,  and  were  taught  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

Moreover,  we  see  here  the  power  of  faith,  the  power  of 
personal  experience,  in  surmounting  difficulties.  All 
Philip's  difficulties  had  been  removed  by  his  interview 
with  Christ.  But  it  was  not  certain  that  another  mind 
would  view  the  thing  exactly  as  he  did,  though  he  felt  sure 
that  Nathaniel  would  form  the  same  judgment  as  himself. 
Still,  it  was  an  experiment,  and  we  may  conceive  of 
Philip's  joy  at  the  sight  of  the  effect  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  upon  Nathaniel.  We  are  so  constituted  that  one 
Christian  soul  is  always  much  impressed  by  the  experience 
of  another  ;  there  is  great  sympathy,  great  encouragement ; 
and  hence  the  salutary  power  of  good  religious  biographies. 
Rightly  used,  they  are  next  to  the  Bible.  Philip's  faith 
was  very  strong,  but  we  may  be  sure  it  was  still  stronger 
when  he  saw  that  Nathaniel  felt  just  as  he  did,  viewed  the 
Saviour  just  as  he  did.  It  was  just  what  he  expected 
when  he  said  to  Nathaniel  so  triumphantly,  Come  and  see. 

And  we  may  conceive  of  him  as  afterwards  delightfully 
reminding  Nathaniel  of  his  first  incredulity.  Well  !  and 
what  do  you  think  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  now  ?  he  would 
say  to  him.  No  matter,  Nathaniel  would  answer,  whether 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  229 

he  be  of  Nazareth,  or  Capernaum,  or  Samaria  itself.  I 
know  not  and  care  not;  I  have  seen  him,  and  known  him, 
and  am  satisfied.  One  thing  I  know,  that  he  hath  opened 
mine  eyes,  and  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see  ;  I  see  him 
and  his  glory,  the  Lord  of  my  soul,  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  my  King,  my  Redeemer,  him 
of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  Prophets  did  write. 

This  is  always  the  effect  of  genuine  spiritual  experi- 
ence, the  effect  of  the  assurance  of  the  soul,  produced  by 
seeing  Christ  in  faith,  and  feeling  his  preciousness.  This 
is  evidence  that  can  stand  against  all  the  malignant  powers 
in  the  universe  arrayed  against"  it  ;  evidence,  against 
which  neither  the  gates  of  hell  nor  the  temptations  of 
Satan  can  ever  prevail.  There  may  have  been  a  thousand 
difficulties  unanswered.  There  may  be  conceived  a  thou- 
sand more,  even  under  this  assurance  ;  difficulties,  with 
which  the  soul  could  not  at  present  grapple,  should  it  try. 
But  this  experimental  assurance  in  the  sight  of  Christ  is 
proof  against  them  all.  This  experimental  assurance 
makes  them  all  wait,  till  that  light  and  explanation,  which 
the  soul  knows  will  come,  shall  come,  and  makes  them 
quietly  wait,  without  troubling  the  soul.  This  experi- 
mental assurance,  produced  by  the  Spirit  and  the  Word 
of  God,  is  knowledge  of  the  highest  kind.  It  is  like  the 
intuition  of  truths  which  you  cannot  prove.  Nothing  can 
shake  the  soul. 

There  were  a  great  many  difficulties,  which  Philip  and 
Nathaniel  had  to  propose,  and  which  they  would  have  had 
to  settle,  had  they  stopped  with  difficulties,  instead  of 
coming  to  Christ,  and  which,  nevertheless,  they  never 
could  have  settled  except  by  coming  to  Christ.  For 
example,  this  very  matter  of  Christ  being  of  Nazareth 
would  have  been  an  insurmountable  ^difficulty,  if  not 
explained.  If  Nazareth  were  the  birth-place  of  Jesus,  and 
so  it  seems  to  have  been  reputed,  how  could  he  possibly 
be  the  Messiah,  since  the  Scripture  had  said  that  Christ 
should  come  of  the  seed  of  David,  and  out  of  the  town  of 


230  GRACE  AND  TRUTH, 

Bethlehem.  This  question  itself  afterwards  made  a  great 
division  among  the  people.  But  the  direct  way  to  settle 
it  was  to  come  to  Christ,  and  to  Christ  Philip  and 
Nathaniel  came  with  all  their  questions. 

Now  it  is  clear  that  this  is  the  only  successful  course, 
the  only  course  of  true  wisdom,,  and  of  life  and  salvation, 
for  any  and  every  soul.  Philip's  voice  to  Nathaniel, 
Come  and  see,  is  the  voice  at  once  both  of  common  sense 
and  of  the  gospel.  And  yet  men  act  on  this  subject  very 
much  as  if  they  had  with  one  common  determination 
agreed,  when  they  come  to  the  business  of  religion,  to 
throw  all  common  sense  away  from  them.  On  all  other 
subjects  they  make  experiment.  They  talk  much  of  their 
Baconian  philosophy,  how  wonderful  a  creature  is  man, 
who  gathers  facts  and  makes  experiments  before  he  will 
believe  ;  how  wonderful  an  advance  in  science  the  great 
Anglo-Saxon  princes  of  the  earth  have  made  in  discarding 
mere  theories,  and  basing  all  their  conclusions  on  the 
inductive  system  of  facts  and  experiments.  And  indeed 
in  earthly  things,  in  this  matter,  men  are  consistent  with 
their  experimental  philosophy.  If  a  man  intends  to  buy 
five  yoke  of  oxen,  he  will  go  and  prove  them.  If  he  is  to 
take  shares  in  a  coal  mine,  he  will  examine  the  coal  and 
the  indications  of  the  veins.  If  he  is  buying  stocks,  he 
will  see  to  his  securities.  If  he  is  buying  flour,  and  has 
reason  to  fear  it  is  adulterated,  he  will  prove  it,  and  make 
sure.  If  he  is  called  to  put  faith  in  a  system  of  astronomy, 
he  will  have  that  demonstrated  by  experiment.  If  he  is  to 
take  passage  in  a  ship,  he  will  see  for  himself  what  the 
ship  is.  You  would  not  find  him  engaging  in  a  discussion 
concerning  the  very  existence  of  the  ship,  without  going 
to  see  it.  But  in  religion  men  are  fools,  are  madmen. 
The  last  thing  they  do  is  that  which  ought  to  be  the  first, 
the  experiment.  They  will  discuss  the  evidences  of 
religion,  when  they  have  never  attempted  the  personal 
experiment  with  one  of  them.  They  will  question  and 
doubt  and  hesitate  and  argue,  and  swing  pendulum-like 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  231 

between  belief  and  disbelief  in  regard  to  a  matter  in  which 
the  only  possible  way  of  determining  the  truth  is  to  make 
personal  experiment. 

Religion,  in  its  very  essence,  is  a  thing  of  trial,  not  mere- 
ly of  evidence ;  and  all  the  evidence  in  the  world  will  not 
convince  a  man  without  the  trial.  If  a  man  is  not  willing 
to  make  the  trial,  he  will  remain  unconvinced,  till  experi- 
ence convinces  him  by  his  eternal  ruin.  He  will  know 
the  value  of  the  soul,  by  the  soul's  eternal  loss.  Religion 
must  be  a  matter  of  original,  individual,  we  might  almost 
say  lonely  experiment.  The  awakening  step  may  be 
evidence,  must  be  evidence  of  some  kind,  but  the  convic- 
tion and  conversion  are  experience  ;  the  coming  to  Christ 
and  the  assurance  of  his  mercy  and  grace  are  experience. 
A  careless  man  strays  into  the  house  of  God,  and  hears 
an  awakening  pungent  sermon  from  Richard  Baxter.  He 
hears  of  things,  which,  if  true,  are  adapted  to  distress  him ; 
and  it  is  evidence  to  which  he  is  listening.  He  is  awaken- 
ed at  first  on  the  evidence  of  the  preacher.  But  this  is 
not  belief.  This  evidence  is  given,  is  applied,  is  spread 
before  him,  to  induce  him  to  make  the  trial  for  himself,  to 
induce  him  to  come  and  see.  He  hears  that  he  is  lost, 
that  Christ  can  save  him,  and  only  Christ,  and  that  he 
must  go  to  Christ  in  penitence  and  prayer.  He  may  be 
alarmed,  but  until  he  goes  to  Christ,  he  cannot  tell  for  a 
certainty,  from  his  own  experience,  the  truth  of  the 
preaching ;  unless  indeed  he  believe  with  the  heart  in 
God's  Word,  which  no  man  does  with  his  heart,  but  by 
going  to  Christ.  He  must  make  this  experiment. 

He  might  spend  his  life  in  arguing  whether  the  things 
of  the  preaching  are  true ;  but  if  he  will  go  himself  to 
Christ,  he  can  tell  at  once.  Let  him  come  and  see. "  He 
may  think  nothing  good  can  come  out  of  Nazareth ;  let 
him  come  and  see.  But  if  he  judges  beforehand,  he  judges 
against  evidence,  and  in  the  contempt  and  neglect  of 
evidence.  It  is  evidence  which  God  has  graciously  given 
him,  to  induce  him  to  make  the  experiment ;  evidence 


232  GRACE    A\D    TRUTH, 

abundant,  evidence  enough  for  any  sane  mind;  and  the 
experiment  itself  is  so  simple,  so  easy,  that  he  need  not 
waste  nor  hazard  anything,  nor  lose  either  time  or  well- 
being  in  making  it.  Conscience  goes  with  the  evidence, 
so  that  it  is  evidence  within  as  well  as  without.  Every- 
thing calls  on  him  to  make  the  experiment.  If  now  he 
does  not  make  it,  he  must  abide  the  consequences ;  he 
chooses  the  alternative,  and  chooses  all  the  results  that 
wait  on  the  alternative,  of  not  making  it ;  and  the  loss  and 
the  ruin  are  his  own. 

Without  coming  to  Christ  and  seeing  him  for  ourselves, 
there  is  plenty  of  room  for  cavilling,  distrusting,  arguing, 
and  theorizing ;  but  there  is  no  possibility  of  religion  in 
experience,  in  exercise,  in  possession.  The  religion  of 
the  gospel  is  neither  a  succession  from  the  apostles,  nor  a 
diploma  in  the  church,  but  a  life  in  Christ ;  and  such  a 
thing  as  piety  there  cannot  be,  neither  in  the  church  nor 
out  of  it,  but  by  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Christ. 
There  may  be  knowledge,  but  not  experience,  not  love. 

A  man  may  dwell  in  the  porch  of  the  temple  all  his 
life  long,  and  never  see  the  interior.  A  man  may  be 
employed  upon  the  external  evidences  all  his  life  long,  and 
may  array  and  combine  them  with  great  power,  and  yet 
never  possess  that  indispensable  article  of  personal  experi- 
ence, to  which  they  are  intended  to  lead,  and  without 
which  they  are  worthless.  A  man  may  even  be  delighted 
with  the  logic,  the  symmetry,  the  fulness  and  minuteness 
of  the  demonstration,  may  be  charmed  as  a  reasoner,  may 
eloquently  descant  upon  the  power  of  the  evidences  of 
our  religion,  and  yet  know  nothing  of  the  power  of  the 
religion  itself.  The  personal  religion  is  a  thing  totally 
separate  from  the  external  evidence.  The  evidence  may 
lead  to  it,  may  be  an  introduction  into  it,  but  is  no  part  of 
the  thing  itself,  of  the  personal  experience.  There  was  a 
long  row  of  sphinxes  in  Egypt,  leading  to  the  great  temple 
of  Karnak  in  Thebes,  but  the  sphinxes  were  not  the 
temple.  A  man  might  walk  up  and  down  the  sphinxes  for 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  233 

years,  and  never  enter  into  the  temple.  So  with  the 
introductory  evidences  of  religion.  And  a  man  might  get 
within  the  temple  of  Karnak,  without  going  through  the 
line  of  sphinxes  ;  nay,  a  stranger  might  do  this,  coming 
from  the  desert  side,  without  ever  having  even  heard  of 
them.  He  might  be  in  the  temple  first,  and  see  the 
sphinxes  afterwards  ;  might  go  from  the  temple  into  the 
midst  of  the  sphinxes,  instead  of  coming  through  the 
sphinxes  into  the  temple. 

So  it  is  with  true  piety.'  A  man  may  come  to  Christ, 
without  ever  having  so  much  as  heard  of  the  evidences 
that  he  is  the  Christ,  while  another  man  may  walk  up  and 
down  amidst  those  evidences,  and  consider  and  admire 
them,  and  yet  never  come  to  Christ  at  all,  nor  even  know 
him  as  a  Saviour.  A  man  may  come  to  Christ  first,  and 
enter  into  the  evidences  afterwards,  or  he  may  come 
through  the  evidences  to  Christ ;  albeit  he  can  never  truly, 
fully,  see  and  feel  their  power  till  he  comes  to  Christ,  and 
sees  everything  in  Christ's  light,  everything  as  leading  to 
Christ.  A  soul  may  be  deeply  imbedded  in  the  Saviour, 
and  yet  know  nothing  of  the  train  of  argument  by  which 
he  is  proved  to  be  the  Saviour.  A  soul  may  come  to 
Christ,  and  take  all  its  evidence  from  him,  first  and  alone. 
And  this  is  certainly  the  highest  style  of  faith,  the  most  un- 
assailable faith,  the  most  powerful  faith.  Now  we  believe, 
not  for  the  saying  of  the  woman,  but  because  we  have 
seen  him  ourselves,  and  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ 
which  should  come  into  the  world. 

All  the  mightiest  array  of  evidences  is  for  the  mind  but 
wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  if  the  heart  come  not  to  Christ. 
Philip  and  Nathaniel,  John,  Peter,  and  Andrew,  might  rise 
from  the  dead  and  repeat  their  story,  but  it  could  not  bless 
or  benefit  men,  who  come  not  themselves  to  Christ.  And 
men  may  perish  even  with  the  testimony  of  the  dead  and 
living  before  them,  the  Word  of  God^or  themselves,  and 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  others  ;  they  may  perish,  even 
like  a  ship  brought  by  her  pilot  to  the  very  mouth  of  the 


234  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

harbor,  and  there  thrown  upon  the  rocks.  No  advantages 
can  prosper  any  soul,  if  it  go  not  to  Christ,  but  the  very 
exaltation  to  heaven  may  cast  a  man  down  to  hell. 
Evidences,  churches,  fathers,  apostolical  successions, 
baptisms,  all  are  but  so  much  useless  lumber,  or  burning 
condemnation,  to  the  soul  that  does  not  go  to  Christ. 

Multitudes  of  souls  walk  up  and  down  the  avenue  of 
Christian  Faith,  and  admire  it,  but  never  enter  the 
Christian  temple  nor  behold  Christ.  Suppose  a  man  were 
asked,  Did  you  ever  go  into  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter's  ? 
and  he  should  answer,  No,  but  1  lived  for  years  where  I 
could  see  the  dome.  The  proximity  of  the  man's  residence 
would  be  but  an  exasperation  of  his  ignorance.  Just  so  it 
is  with  the  gospel.  Men  live  for  years  in  sight  of  it,  but 
never  come  near  it,  never  try  it.  But  alas !  the  nearer  the 
temple  in  this  life,  the  further  from  God  in  the  next,  if 
your  privileges,  your  light,  your  knowledge,  have  not 
brought  you  to  the  Saviour.  Did  you  come  to  Christ 
amidst  all  these  avenues  of  mercy  ?  No,  but  we  have 
eaten  and  drunk  in  his  presence,  and  he  has  taught  in  our 
streets.  Alas,  what  good  will  that  do  you,  when  you  stand 
in  judgment  before  him,  to  answer  for  your  treatment  of 
his  offers  of  salvation  ? 

Did  you  come  to  Christ,  did  you  know  Christ,  did  your 
soul  love  him,  and  trust  in  him,  and  obey  him  ?  No,  but  I 
was  a  child  of  the  kingdom,  by  right  and  title  from  Abra- 
ham, I  had  all  the  privileges  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  I 
worshipped  with  a  church  that  held  succession  from  the 
apostles,  nay,  and  I  was  myself  a  member  of  the  same,  I 
lived  beneath  the  light  of  the  gospel,  and  was  never  a  poor 
miserable  heathen.  I  tell  you,  says  our  Saviour,  that  they 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  the  west  and  the  north  and 
the  south  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  the  children  of 
the  kingdom,  they  whose  right  it  was,  if  they  would  only 
have  received  it,  they  who  lived  in  it  on  earth,  but  disre- 
garded it,  shall  be  cast  out.  If  external  privileges  and 
ordinances  are  all  that  men  have  to  rest  upon,  then  they 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  235 

have  no  Saviour.  John  Newton's  Hymn  on  Moonlight  is 
a  good  representation  of  the  ritual  and  sentimental  piety 
that  separates  the  mind  from  God  and  starves  the  heart. 

The  moon  has  but  a  borrowed  light, 

A  faint  and  feeble  ray ; 
She  owes  her  beauty  to  the  night, 

And  hides  herself  by  day. 
No  cheering  warmth  her  beam  conveys, 

Though  pleasing  to  behold ; 
We  might  upon  her  brightness  gaze 

And  perish  still  with  cold. 

Just  such  is  all  the  light  to  man 

Which  reason  can  impart; 
It  cannot  show  one  object  plain, 

Nor  warm  the  frozen  heart. 
Thus  moonlight  views  of  truth  divine 

To  many  fatal  prove : 
For  what  avails  in  gifts  to  shine, 

Without  the  light  of  love  ? 

The  gospel,  like  the  sun  at  noon, 

Affords  a  glorious  light ; 
Then  fallen  reason's  boasted  moon 

Appears  no  longer  bright. 
And  grace,  not  light  alone,  bestows, 

But  adds  a  quickening  power ; 
The  desert  blossoms  like  the  rose, 

And  sin  prevails  no  more. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

The  Creed  of  Doubt. 

IT  was  deep  midnight  on  the  lake  of  Tiberias,  and  there 
was  a  storm  in  the  darkness.  The  lonely  ship  into  which 
Jesus  had  put  the  disciples,  while  he  went  up  into  a 
mountain  to  spend  some  hours  in  prayer,  was  out  amidst 
the  waters  tossed  and  struggling  with  the  tempest.  But 
there  need  have  been  no  fear  for  that,  so  long  as  Jesus 
had  sent  them  into  the  midst  of  it.  He  would  be  sure  to 
be  with  them,  and  accordingly  in  the  depths  of  the  tem- 
pestuous night,  he,  whose  eye  had  been  upon  them,  whose 
heart  had  been  wrestling  for  them  in  prayer,  came  to  them 
walking  on  the  sea,  the  troubled  sea.  They  should  have 
rejoiced  at  this  sight,  but  they  were  more  troubled  at  it 
than  the  sea  itself.  That  majestic  form,  radiant  in  the 
darkness,  coming  to  the  ship,  terrified  them  more  than  the 
tempest,  so  that  they  cried  out  for  fear.  The  appearance 
of  incarnate  divine  holiness  and  goodness  is  sometimes 
more  terrible  to  men  distressed  with  sin  than  darkness  and 
tempest.  With  what  gentle  kindness  did  Jesus  reassure 
them !  Be  of  good  cheer,  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid.  Then 
Peter,  in  one  of  his  sudden  impulses  of  mingled  faith  and 
self-confidence,  determined  to  try  an  experiment.  Lord, 
if  it  be  thou,  bid  me  come  to  thee  upon  the  water.  And 
he  said  come.  And  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of 
the  ship,  he  walked  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.  But  when 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  237 

he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid.  And  beginning 
to  sink,  he  cried  saying,  Lord,  save  me.  And  immediately 
Jesus  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  caught  him,  and  saith 
unto  him,  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou 
doubt  ? 

We  have  already  dwelt  upon  the  early  manifestation  of 
strong  faith  in  Christ  on  the  part  of  these  disciples.  We 
have  also  in  a  former  chapter  noted  the  nature  of  their 
prayer,  Lord,  increase  our  faith,  and  we  have  seen  how 
little  at  that  time  they  really  knew  what  faith  was.  We 
have  now  before  us  a  particular  example  of  the  trial  of 
their  faith  by  the  Divine  Wisdom  and  Love  of  the 
Redeemer.  In  the  deeply  interesting  account  of  this 
storm  upon  the  sea,  we  have  the  practical  position  of  the 
disciples  after  near  two  years  of  discipline  and  teaching 
on  the  part  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  We  have  a  most  instruc- 
tive instance  of  the  workings  both  of  faith  and  doubt ;  an 
example  of  the  wavering  or  oscillation  of  the  soul  between 
these  two  states  of  belief  and  unbelief,  and  the  consequent 
practical  effects  of  such  alternating  and  diverse  experience. 
Let  us  examine  this  unbelief  of  Peter,  or  rather  this 
mixture  of  faith  and  unbelief,  and  learn  what  it  teaches. 

There  was  a  mixture  of  faith  and  doubt.  If  it  be  the 
Lord,  Peter  said  within  himself,  I  care  for  nothing,  I  can 
do  everything.  Only  let  me  be  assured  that  it  is  he.  But 
our  Blessed  Lord  had  just  told  Peter  with  all  the  disciples, 
that  it  was  he.  IT  is  I,  BE  NOT  AFRAID.  Christ  himself 
had  spoken,  and  what  greater  evidence  could  Peter  have, 
or  ought  he  to  ask  for,  than  Christ's  own  word,  and  that 
evidence  itself  accompanied  by  a  miraculous  work  an- 
nouncing the  Lord  of  the  creation  ?  And  yet,  Peter  did 
not  believe.  Lord,  if  it  be  thou.  It  is  I,  said  Christ. 
Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  said  Peter,  bid  me  come  to  thee  on  the 
water.  A  singular  mixture  both  of  faith  and  unbelief. 
Lord,  if  it  be  thou !  As  much  as  to  say,  Lord,  I  doubt  thy 
word,  or  rather,  I  doubt  the  word,  whether  it  may  not  be  a 
demon  that  has  spoken ;  nevertheless,  if  it  be  indeed  Christ, 


238  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

I  am  afraid  of  nothing.  Only  give  me  evidence.  Now 
assuredly  this  asking  for  more  evidence  under  these 
circumstances,  was  the  fruit  of  unbelief.  It  was  the  first 
stage  of  Peter's  unbelief  in  this  instance. 

Then  there  was  the  second.  Our  Blessed  Lord  vouch- 
safed the  sign  which  Peter  required,  or  rather  which 
Peter's  unbelief  required.  He  gave  him  the  new  evidence 
which  he  asked,  by  bidding  him  come.  And  now  for  an 
instant,  strengthened  by  such  extraordinary  encourage- 
ment, Peter's  faith  gets  the  uppermost,  and  he  gets  down 
over  the  side  of  the  ship,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  tempest, 
and  begins  to  walk  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.  But  he 
only  took  a  step  or  two,  when  he  began  to  be  frightened, 
even  at  his  own  courage.  And  when  he  saw  the  wind 
boisterous,  he  was  afraid.  But  did  he  not  see  the  wind 
boisterous  before  he  stepped  out  of  the  ship  ?  What  was 
there  to  prevent  his  continuing  the  enterprise,  that  there 
had  not  been  to  prevent  his  engaging  in  it  ?  He  had  faith 
enough  to  set  out,  but  not  enough  to  persevere.  And  yet 
the  arguments  for  persevering,  and  the  reasons  for  en- 
couragement, grew  stronger  at  every  step.  The  sea  did 
not  open  to  swallow  him  up,  though  he  had  ventured  the 
experiment  of  walking  on  it.  And  if  he  could  take  but 
two  steps  without  sinking,  this  was  an  immeasurably 
greater  addition  to  his  evidence  that  Christ  was  there,  and 
it  ought  to  have  inspired  him  with  such  courage,  that  he 
would  have  been  ready,  even  in  the  darkness  of  midnight, 
to  walk  alone,  at  Christ's  word,  across  the  whole  Lake  of 
Tiberias,  even  in  the  storm. 

But  even  after  this  wonderful  and  successful  experi- 
ment, his  doubts  returned.  Or  rather  this  time  it  was  his 
fears  that  mastered  him,  and  sunk  his  faith.  This  second 
unbelief  was  greater  than  the  first.  Assured  by  double 
evidence  that  it  was  Christ,  and  having  his  Lord's  express 
command  to  come,  he  should  have  been  afraid  of  nothing. 
Though  Satan  himself  had  risen  up  in  bodily  shape  before 
him,  he  should  have  kept  on.  It  was  more  his  duty  to 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  239 

persevere,  than  it  had  been  to  begin.  In  fact,  it  required 
less  faith  to  persevere  than  it  did  to  begin.  For  all  the 
grounds  of  faith  were  strengthened,  every  moment.  The 
very  fact  that  he  did  not  sink  was  enough. 

And  mark  this  point.  If  Peter's  attention  had  continued 
fixed  on  Christ,  he  would  have  persevered,  nay,  he  would 
have  seen  nothing  to  be  afraid  of.  But  his  attention  being 
drawn  away  from  Christ  to  the  strong  wind,  Satan  had 
the  advantage  of  him ;  all  his  unbelief  came  over  him 
again,  and  down  he  sank  like  lead  in  the  waters.  A  heart 
without  faith  is  always  like  lead,  and  sinks  to  the  bottom. 
But  faith  is  buoyant ;  it  is  as  a  life-preserver ;  and  while  it 
is  whole  and  strong,  he  who  has  it  cannot,  will  not  sink. 
Peter  believing  had  seen  Christ,  and  the  waves  and  the 
wind  went  for  nothing ;  Peter  losing  sight  of  Christ,  saw 
nothing  but  the  waves  and  the  wind,  and  sank  instantly. 

Thus,  how  often  do  men  begin  a  work  for  Christ,  and 
stop  short  in  it  for  want  of  faith  !  They  begin  it  perhaps 
in  the  exercise  of  a  faith  and  an  ardor  like  Peter's,  but 
when  they  see  the  wind  and  the  waves  boisterous  they 
begin  to  sink.  Although  the  Lord  upholds  them  at  first 
setting  out,  their  faith  fails  afterwards.  This  is  he  that 
received  seed  by  the  way-side,  he  that  heareth  the  Word, 
and  anon  with  joy  receiveth  it ;  yet  hath  he  no  root  in 
himself,  but  dureth  for  a  while ;  for  when  tribulation  or 
persecution  ariseth,  by  and  by  he  is  offended.  It  is  a 
great  thing  to  persevere.  Add  to  your  faith — patience. 
That  the  trial  of  your  faith,  though  it  be  much  more 
precious  than  of  gold  that  perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with 
fire,  may  be  found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the 
appearing  of  Jesus  Christ.  A  man  ought  not  to  set  out  in 
any  enterprise,  but  by  faith  in  Christ ;  but  being  set  out 
by  faith,  in  faith  he  ought  to  continue.  Methinks  the 
whole  world  might  be  likened  to  a  great  sea,  in  which  are 
many  ships  and  boats,  and  Jesus  walking  on  the  water,  and 
everywhere  men  getting  down  out  of  their  ships  to  go  to 
him.  Some  persevere,  but  the  greater  part  are  sinking. 


240  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Faith  holds  out  with  some,  but  with  the  greater  part  the 
winds  and  waves  conquer.  And  a  great  many  who  seem 
to  be  exercising  faith,  and  getting  down  out  of  their  ships 
to  go  to  Jesus,  do  it  not,  but  keep  themselves  secretly 
attached  by  a  rope  to  the  ship,  not  trusting  all  to  Christ, 
not  even  beginning  to  trust,  not  cutting  loose  from  every- 
thing. If  Peter's  experiment  of  faith  had  been  made  with 
a  rope  round  his  waist,  he  could  not  have  taken  a  single 
step.  But  there  was  real  faith  in  Peter  at  first,  and  a 
hearty  committal  of  everything  to  Christ,  though  after- 
wards unbelief  conquered.  If  it  be  thou,  is  the  Creed^of 
doubt. 

This  unbelief  of  Peter  is  contrasted  strongly  with  his 
impetuous  faith  at  a  more  advanced  stage  in  his  Christian 
experience.  Then,  when  he  only  heard  that  it  was  the  Lord, 
he  girt  his  fisher's  coat,  and  cast  himself  at  once  into  the 
sea  to  go  to  Jesus,  asking  no  questions,  giving  way  to  no 
doubts.  A  contrast,  which  shows  strikingly  how  the 
evidence  of  Christianity  depends  on  the  state  of  mind  and 
heart  in  the  individual  to  whom  it  is  presented,  and  at  the 
time  when  it  is  presented.  The  evidence  which  Peter  had 
at  first,  and  rejected,  was  incomparably  greater  than  that 
on  which  he  afterwards  acted  without  any  hesitation.  A 
vast  amount  of  evidence  may  fail  to  convince  an  un- 
believing mind,  when  a  hundredth  part  of  it  will  produce 
assurance  in  a  humble  mind,  disposed  to  receive  it.  When 
the  evidence  of  the  Scriptures  is  rejected,  it  is  rejected 
by  unbelief,  not  by  reasoning ;  and  indeed  unbelief  is  the 
most  unreasoning  and  unreasonable  thing  in  the  world. 
Unbelief  reasons  by  sense,  and  therefore  sinks  in  error. 
Peter  reasoned  by  sense,  and  sank,  like  a  thing  of  sense. 
He  reasoned  by  the  winds  and  waves,  and  left  out  of  view 
the  great  ground  and  assurance  of  all  reasoning.  If  he 
had  reasoned  aright,  he  would  have  argued  within  himself 
that  the  same  Saviour,  who  had  made  him  walk  two  steps 
upon  the  water  without  sinking,  could  and  would  make 
him  walk  the  whole  distance  safely.  But  instead  of  this, 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  241 

he  deserted  Christ,  and  his  own  experience,  and  all  the 
true  grounds  of  reasoning  by  faith,  and  argued  with  his 
own  heart  concerning  the  winds  and  waves,  and  so  he 
found  himself  sinking. 

Now  this  state  of  mind  is  just  an  example  of  that  which 
may  be  often  seen  in  unconverted  persons,  and  in  those 
who  are  Christians.  Sometimes  Satan  has  had  such  long 
and  successful  power  in  blinding  the  mind  and  hardening 
the  heart,  that  a  sinful  man,  even  when  convinced  of  sin, 
and  looking  about  anxiously  for  deliverance,  will  not  even 
believe  so  far  as  to  pray,  or  if  he  does  attempt  it,  says  only, 
Lord,  if  it  be  thou!  If  the  things  of  the  Bible  are  true, 
if  I  must  be  regenerated  in  order  to  be  saved,  show  it  to 
me,  that  I  may  believe.  Which  is  as  much  as  to  say, 
Lord,  if  thou  art  not  false,  if  God  be  not  a  liar,  and  if  his 
word  is  not  a  great  fable  and  falsehood,  show  it  to  me,  and 
then  I  will  believe.  This  state  of  mind  may  be  more 
common  than  we  are  apt  to  imagine.  But  what  would  be 
thought  of  the  insolence  of  a  poor  ragged  man,  whom  the 
Queen  of  England  should  meet  at  the  gate  of  the  palace, 
and  promise  to  bestow  upon  him  a  costly  gift,  if  he  would 
go  to  a  certain  place  and  accomplish  a  piece  of  work ;  and 
he  should  say,  I  suspect  you  of  lying  in  all  this,  and  must 
have  your  note  of  hand,  together  with  a  certificate  that 
you  are  the  Queen  of  England  whom  you  pretend  to  be ; 
and  on  condition  that  you  give  me  this  demonstration,  I 
will  go !  Such  is,  in  fact,  the  language  of  an  unbelieving 
heart  towards  God  and  Christ.  It  will  not  take  God's 
Word,  and  act  accordingly.  It  will  not,  on  God's  simple 
authority,  make  the  experiment  which  God  requires.  The 
soul  has  God's  own  word,  in  which  he  has  set  forth  both 
the  terms  of  salvation  and  the  necessity  of  it,  both  the 
character  of  the  sinner  and  the  character  of  Christ,  and 
yet  it  is  not  content  with  this  evidence,  and  will  not  act 
on  these  grounds.  But  God  hath  said,  He  that  believeth 
not  the  record  that  God  gave  of  his  Son,  hath  made  him  a 
liar. 

11 


242  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Now  suppose  an  unconverted  person,  encompassed  by 
such  doubts,  and  distracted  by  his  unbelief,  as  Peter  was 
by  the  winds  and  waves  around  him.  Suppose  such  an 
one  finding  himself  sinking,  and  n^>t  beholding  ChrisJ, 
seeing,  in  fact,  nothing  real  but  his  own  cjarkness,  doubt, 
almost  atheism  and  despair.  What  is  the  duty  of  such  an 
unconverted  person  in  such  a  state  ?  Assuredly,  to  treat 
those  doubts  as  the  work  of  him  who  is  a  liar  from  the 
beginning,  and  to  confess  them  and  mourn  over  them  as 
sinful,  and  to  ask  the  forgiveness  of  God.  It  is  every 
man's  duty  to  submit  to  God's  evidence.  It  is  every  man's 
duty  to  make  trial,  crying  out,  Lord,  I  believe,  help  thou 
mine  unbelief.  If  a  man  does  this  sincerely  and  persever- 
ingly,  he  is  sure  to  be  successful.  Let  him  come  confess- 
ing his  sin,  his  darkness,  his  blindness,  and  crying  out, 
Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean,  and  there  is 
no  question  that  light  will  spring  up  within  him,  and  there 
will  be  experience  of  the  mercy  of  Christ  in  submissive- 
ness,  in  peace,  in  the  assurance  of  pardon. 

There  was  one,  of  whom  an  account  is  given  in  the 
gospel,  who  came  to  Christ  in  this  state  of  unbelief  to 
gain  his  interposition  in  behalf  of  a  beloved  child.  The 
man  seems  to  have  regarded  our  Saviour  with  a  half  sus- 
picion of  his  being  an  impostor.  His  mode  of  address  to 
him  was  this  :  Lord,  if  thou  art  able  to  do  anything.  He 
was  not  only  ignorant  of  the  glorious  character  of  our 
Blessed  Lord,  but  there  seems  to  have  been  absolute 
scepticism,  so  that  his  application  was  a  sort  of  despairing 
venture  of  unbelief,  just  as  he  might  have  come  to  a  quack 
doctor  in  a  last  resort.  Nothing  could  be  done  in  such  a 
state  of  mind.  The  Lord  answered  him  therefore,  If  thou 
canst  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth. 
This  seems  to  have  brought  about  an  entirely  new  state 
of  feeling,  in  the  mind  of  the  applicant.  It  threw  him 
upon  the  state  of  his  own  heart  in  regard  to  Christ,  and 
made  him  suddenly  see  and  feel  that  in  order  to  be  saved 
by  Christ,  in  order  to  gain  his  merciful  interposition,  there 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE. 

must  be  a  true  reliance  upon  him  on  his  own  part.  He 
must  come  throwing  everything  upon  Christ,  with  a  sub- 
missive hearty  confidence  in  his  power  and  willingness  to 
save.  This  conviction,  and  his  intensity  of  feeling  in 
behalf  of  his  child,  working  together,  threw  him  into  a 
paroxysm  of  mingled  faith  and  doubt,  desire  and  despair, 
to  put  an  end  to  which,  making  a  great  effort  to  cast 
everything,  as  he  should  do,  upon  Christ,  he  cried  out  with 
tears,  Lord,  I  believe,  help  thou  my  unbelief. 

And  an  excellent  prayer  and  a  great  triumph  of  faith 
over  unbelief  was  that.  When  a  man  comes  to  that 
heartily,  the  difficulty  is  at  an  end.  For  faith  once  really 
commenced,  is  a  growing  principle.  It  may  be  as  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed  at  first  in  the  soul,  but  it  shall  grow  and 
spread,  till  it  becomes  like  a  strong  overshadowing  tree. 
That  despairing  application  for  Christ's  mercy  is  worth 
everything,  despairing,  we  mean,  of  self,  and  self-healing, 
and  throwing  all  upon  Christ.  This  now  had  become  the 
man's  only  resort.  His  sudden  discovery  of  his  own 
weakness  and  unbelief  became  as  sudden  a  source  of 
strength,  in  throwing  himself  upon  Christ's  strength.  This 
was  doubtless  the  beginning  of  an  entirely  new  life  in  the 
soul  of  this  man,  an  entirely  different  and  superior  experi- 
ence. And  so  it  is  always.  The  experience  of  divine 
things  is  as  different  from  mere  speculation,  as  life  is 
different  from  death  ;  it  is  no  more  to  be  understood  by 
mere  speculation  than  life  is  to  be  understood  by  counting 
the  bones  of  a  skeleton,  or  tracing  the  nerves. 

And  now,  wherever  there  be  a  soul  struggling  to  get  to 
Christ,  let  that  soul  learn  a  lesson  from  Peter.  If  you 
would  get  to  Christ,  you  must  fix  your  eye,  your  mind, 
your  heart,  your  whole  purpose  upon  him.  You  must  not 
mind  winds,  waves,  tempests,  but  through  them  all  make 
your  way  straight  and  steadfast  to  Christ.  Sometimes 
Satan  raises  a  storm  at  once,  when  he  sees  a  soul  getting 
down  out  of  the  ship  of  self  and  of  this  world  to  go  to 
Christ,  and  if  you  are  terrified  by  such  a  storm,  whether 

« 


244  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

inward  or  external,  and  lose  sight  of  Christ,  you  will  sink. 
But  step  on  boldly.  Fix  your  eye,  your  heart,  on  Christ, 
and  then  every  step,  though  it  were  upon  Satan's  own 
fires,  will  be  a  victory.  You  may  walk  through  fire  and 
tempest  unscathed,  looking  only  to  Christ.  But  if  you 
look  away  from  Christ  to  the  fire,  it  will  burn  you ;  to  the 
winds  and  waves,  they  will  swallow  you  up.  Look  to 
Christ,  step  forward  to  Christ,  and  Satan  can  do  nothing ; 
all  his  diabolical  agencies  will  be  baffled. 

But  sometimes  Satan  creates  a  calm  around  the  soul 
which  he  sees  getting  down  out  of  the  ship,  anxious,  con- 
vinced of  sin,  and  ready  to  flee  to  Christ.  Take  care  of 
that.  Beware  lest  Satan  lull  you,  and  make  your  purpose 
itself  lukewarm,  your  heart  secure,  away  from  Christ. 
There  is  no  safety  for  you,  till  you  get  to  him.  You 
should  fear  quietness  more  than  an  inward  tempest,  away 
from  him. 

For  more  the  treacherous  calm  I  dread, 
Than  tempests  bursting  o'er  my  head. 

Let  nothing,  neither  calm  nor  tempest,  keep  you  away 
from  Christ.  And  let  nothing,  either  of  darkness  or  doubt, 
interrupt  your  confidence  in  Him,  for  he  is  the  same, 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  While  darkness  and 
doubt  may  well  make  you  distrustful  of  self,  and  prevent 
you  from  leaning  to  your  own  understanding,  they  should 
drive  you  to  Christ,  as  the  only  Author  and  Source  of 
everlasting  truth  and  certainty. 

A  man  who  gives  way  to  doubt  in  divine  things  and 
suffers  himself  to  be  mastered  by  it,  acts  more  like  a  brute 
or  insane  person  than  a  rational  creature.  He  rejects 
clear  and  positive  evidence,  unanswerable  argument,  and 
permits  his  conduct  to  be  determined  by  doubt.  This  is 
somewhat  as  if  in  a  deliberative  assembly  or  constituted 
state,  the  will  of  the  majority  should  be  rejected,  and  that 
of  a  small  minority  adopted  as  the  rule.  Sometimes  men 
• 


CHRIST    IN    THE     LIFE.  245 

will  permit  their  doubts  on  some  points  to  paralyse  the 
clearest  acknowledged  truths  on  others.  To  escape  from 
such  an  inveterate  obliquity  of  mind,  a  man  should  fix  his 
attention  on  positive  acknowledged  truth,  and,  as  it  were, 
entrench  himself  behind  it.  If  he  will  play  faithfully  a 
single  great  gun  of  truth  behind  that  entrenchment,  he 
may  keep  off  a  whole  army  of  doubts.  Let  him  play  the 
artillery-man  and  stick  to  his  cannon.  But  if  he  leave  his 
entrenchment  and  go  down  into  the  plain  to  fight  with  the 
doubts  on  their  own  ground,  which  is  always  the  lying 
depravity  and  unbelief  of  a  man's  own  heart,  they  will 
take  him  captive,  strip  him  of  his  armor  and  trample 
him  under  foot.  Or  if  he  permit  them  to  get  within  his 
own  entrenchment,  they  will  spike  his  guns,  and  render 
them  useless.  There  is  acknowledged  and  undoubted 
truth  enough  to  save  him,  and  put  a  complete  end  to  his 
doubts,  if  he  will  throw  himself  behind  the  truth  ;  but  if 
he  neglect  the  truth  and  follow  the  doubts,  he  will  wander 
in  a  wilderness  of  nettles,  till  he  come  to  the  congregation 
of  the  dead. 

Under  the  disastrous  influence  of  evil  teaching,  some 
minds  become  perplexed  with  doubts  in  regard  to  the 
atonement  and  divinity  of  Christ.  If  a  man,  neglecting 
or  shutting  out  from  his  view  the  clear  positive  argument 
gives  way  to  such  doubts,  and  rejects  Christ,  he  is  cut  off 
from  the  possibility  of  faith  or  salvation.  What  then  is  a 
soul  to  do  while  thus  perplexed  ?  Let  a  man  search  the 
Scriptures,  and  not  follow  human  guides,  and  let  him 
carry  to  God  in  prayer  the  passages  which  directly  teach 
the  truths  on  which  he  doubts,  and  so  doing,  his  mind  will 
soon  be  clear.  Let  him  not  carry  them  to  express  doubt 
in  regard  to  them,  not  to  ask  God  if  they  are  true,  but  to 
say,  Lord,  I  believe  all  that  is  contained  in  these  Scrip- 
tures. Help  thou  me  to  understand  them,  and  show  me  the 
great  things  contained  in  them.  Give  thou  the  light  of  thy 
Holy  Spirit  upon  them,  and  then  shall  I  see.  A  man 


246  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

must  come  acknowledging  his  blindness  and  helplessness, 
and  crying  out.  to  God  to  enlighten  him. 

We  have  said  that  if  Peter's  attention  had  continued 
fixed  on  Christ,  he  would  have  persetered,  but  being  dis- 
tracted and  divided  from  Christ,  his  enterprise  went  to  the 
bottom.  There  is  here  a  great  instruction  for  all  who  are 
in  any  way  engaged  in  the  enterprises  of  the  Christian 
Life.  We  are,  as  it  were,  walking  on  the  water  to  come 
to  Jesus.  Except  Christ  make  our  foundation  firm,  it  will 
be  unstable  as  water,  and  we  cannot  excel.  And  indeed 
if  he  were  to  leave  us  to  ourselves,  we  should  sink  at  once. 
Just  so,  if  our  attention  is  distracted  from  Christ,  we  are 
sure  to  sink.  Our  only  safety  is  in  aiming  direct  and 
steady  at  Christ,  trusting  in  him.  If  we  neglect  him,  it 
will  not  need  boisterous  winds  and  waves  to  sink  us ;  we 
shall  go  down  of  our  own  accord.  Even  calm  weather, 
smooth  seas,  and  external  success  may  be  our  ruin  if  we 
do  not  aim  solely  at  Christ,  advance  steadily  to  him,  and 
trust  only  in  him.  Satan  may  drown  the  soul,  and  drown 
a  church,  more  easily  in  calm  prosperous  weather  than  in 
a  tempest,  if  it  be  not  fixed  upon  him,  supported  and  built 
up  by  his  grace.  There  is  the  greatest  need  of  watchful- 
ness and  prayer. 


If  for  a  time  the  air  be  calm, 

Serene  and  smooth  the  sea  appears, 
And  shows  no  danger  to  alarm 

The  inexperienced  landsman's  fears. 
But  if  the  tempest  once  arise, 

The  faithless  water  swells  and  raves ; 
Its  billows,  foaming  to  the  skies, 

Disclose  a  thousand  threatening  graves. 


My  untried  heart  thus  seemed  to  me 
(So  little  of  myself  I  knew) 

Smooth  as  the  calm  unruffled  sea, 
But  ah !  it  proved  as  treacherous  too. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  247 

The  peace  of  which  I  had  a  taste 

When  Jesus  first  his  love  revealed, 
I  fondly  hoped  would  always  last, 

Because  my  foes  were  then  concealed. 

But  when  I  felt  the  Tempter's  power 

Rouse  my  corruptions  from  their  sleep, 
I  trembled  at  the  stormy  hour, 

And  saw  the  horrors  of  the  deep. 
Now  on  presumption's  billows  borne, 

My  spirit  seemed  the  Lord  to  dare  ; 
Now,  quick  as  thought,  a  sudden  turn 

Plunged  me  in  gulfs  of  black  despair. 

Lord,  save  me,  or  I  sink,  I  prayed ; 

He  heard,  and  bid  the  tempest  cease; 
The  angry  waves  his  word  obeyed, 

And  all  my  fears  were  hushed  to  peace. 
The  peace  is  his,  and  not  my  own, 

My  heart,  no  better  than  before, 
Is  still  to  dreadful  changes  prone, 

Then  never  let  me  trust  it  more. 

NEWTON. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

The  Creed  of  Faith. 

THE  experiences  of  Peter  during  that  night  of  storm  and 
trial  on  the  deep,  were  a  greater  revelation  of  himself  to 
himself,  and  of  his  relations  to  Christ,  than  he  had  had 
before  during  his  whole  life-time.  Courage  and  fear,  pre- 
sumption and  disappointment,  self-confidence  and  ruin, 
faith  and  self-despair,  and  faith  again  growing  out  of  that, 
succeeded  each  other  as  rapidly  and  violently  in  his  soul  as 
the  mountain  waves  that  threatened  to  engulf  him.  The 
first  natural  expression  of  the  whole  man  breaks  out  in  the 
cry,  Lord,  save  me.  He  was  afraid,  and  beginning  to  sink, 
he  cried,  saying,  Lord,  save  me  !  A  very  different  experi- 
ence is  here  recorded  from  that  in  which  Peter  set  out  in 
this  movement. 

In  the  exercise  of  his  faith  in  the  first  instance,  when  he 
began  to  walk  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus,  there  may  have 
been  something  mingled  of  vain  self-confidence ;  and  if  so, 
that  was  enough  speedily  to  finish  his  experiment.  If  so, 
it  was  not  the  winds  and  the  waves  that  overwhelmed  him, 
nor  even  his  fear  of  them,  but  his  own  ignorant  reliance 
on  himself,  and  perhaps  on  his  imagined  great  attainments 
in  faith.  A  person  may  possibly  have  a  misplaced  confi- 
dence in  his  own  faith,  instead  of  Christ.  But  faith  is 
good  for  nothing  in  itself,  good  for  nothing,  except  as  lay- 
ing hold  of  Christ ;  and  if  faith  instead  of  Christ  is  one's 
reliance  for  salvation,  there  will  be  a  shipwreck. 

Now  in  this  second  outcry  of  Peter  there  was  real  faith, 
unmingled  with  any  self-confidence,  whatever  there  may 


CHRIST    IN     THE    LIFE.  249 

have  been  in  his  mind  and  heart  when  he  set  out  from  the 
ship.  One  can  easily  conceive  that  then  there  may  have 
been,  with  all  his  confidence  in  Christ,  a  side  glance  at  his 
fellow  fishermen,  and  a  willingness  to  be  seen  outdoing 
them  in  his  intimacy  with  Christ  and  his  devotedness  to 
him.  Whatever  there  was  of  that  character,  it  went  far 
to  spoil  his  faith,  and  prepare  him  for  sinking.  Accord- 
ingly, in  one  or  two  steps  his  faith  is  all  gone,  at  least  that 
of  which  he  would  make  a  display,  the  faith  of  superero- 
gation, in  the  possession  of  which  a  man  might  feel  as  if 
he  had  something  to  boast  of,  and  he  was  reduced  down  to 
common  beggary.  He  sinks  like  a  common,  unbelieving 
man. 

And  now  begins  a  real,  unaffected,  heartfelt,  saving 
faith  ;  not  the  faith  of  miracles,  but  the  faith  of  a  sinful, 
dying  soul,  despairingly  crying  out  for  mercy.  Lord,  save 
me,  I  perish  !  Nothing  affected  in  that,  nothing  of  dis- 
play, or  pride,  or  self-confidence  in  that ;  but  a  genuine, 
submissive  faith,  wrrought  out  from  the  anguish  of  a  soul 
in  self-despair,  that,  forgetting  everything  else,  relinquish- 
ing everything  else,  falls  helpless  at  the  feet  of  Christ  for 
mercy.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Christ  permitted  Peter 
to  go  so  far,  in  order  to  show  him  what  was  in  his  heart ; 
this  was  one  of  the  many  occasions  of  discipline  and  trial 
which  Peter  had  to  go  through  for  the  refining  of  his 
character.  And  it  must  have  been  followed  with  great 
searchings  of  heart  on  the  part  of  Peter.  He  sat  down 
in  the  ship  that  night  and  pondered  much  concerning  the 
workings  of  his  mind,  and  the  nature  of  efficacious  faith 
in  Christ.  And  he  began  to  see  that  faith  was  a  greater, 
and  yet  a  more  simple  thing  than  he  had  ever  imagined. 
He  may  have  thought,  at  first,  that  he  had  great  faith. 
And  doubtless  his  fellow  disciples  thought  so  too,  when  they 
saw  him  getting  over  the  side  of  the  ship  in  that  tempest, 
and  beginning  absolutely  to  walk  on  the  water  to  go  to 
Jesus.  But  he  and  they  thought  differently  as  soon  as  he 
began  to  sink ;  and  Christ  thought  so  very  differently  after 

11* 


250  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

the  whole  transaction,  that  he  set  him  down  at  that  period 
in  his  Christian  life  as  Little-Faith. 

There  is  great  instruction  to  the  Christian  from  this 
entire  representation.  It  is  not  in  unconverted  man 
only,  who  is  vexed  and  tempted  and  cast  into  prison  of 
unbelief.  The  Christian  is  troubled  daily,  and  sometimes 
grievously,  almost  to  the  destruction  of  his  soul,  with  this 
distressing  evil  of  our  corrupt  nature.  He  often  says  with 
Peter,  Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  when  he  should  say,  Lord,  it  is 
thou.  It  is  perhaps  only  through  experiences  like  this  of 
Peter  that  any  soul  ever  arrives  at  a  firm,  fixed,  lasting  faith 
in  Christ,  a  faith  which  is  the  result  of  a  practical  know- 
ledge both  of  our  own  weakness  and  of  Christ's  strength, 
our  own  guilt  and  Christ's  mercy  and  grace  ;  a  faith  like 
•that  of  Paul's,  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong. 

A  man  can  walk  through  great  trials  calmly,  if  he  only 
sees  Christ,  only  feels  that  Christ  is  with  him.  Great  trials 
may  be  met  with  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  in  great  enter- 
prises. The  Christian  is  to  count  the  cost,  and  throw 
himself  on  Christ.  And  in  counting  the  cost,  the  Chris- 
tian must  put  Christ  and  his  promises  at  the  foundation. 

He  and  his  family  may  be  in  a  furnace  like  that  of  the 
three  Hebrews  under  Nebuchadnezzar ;  but  if  they  see  a 
form  like  unto  the  Son  of  God  walking  with  them,  if  they 
are  blessed  with  the  privilege  of  sweet  uninterrupted  com- 
munion with  Christ,  what  is  there  that  they  cannot  do, 
what  is  there  that  they  will  not  cheerfully  suffer  ?  If  in 
the  midst  of  trials,  a  man's  soul  is  absorbed  in  Christ, 
then  he  thinks  comparatively  little  of  the  trials,  but 
looks  above  them  and  away  from  them,  and  is  only 
anxious  that  Christ's  blessed  will  may  be  accomplished 
by  the  purifying  of  the  soul  through  such  affliction. 
If  he  be  walking  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus,  the  tem- 
pests that  rise  only  hurry  him  the  faster  to  Christ, 
provided  it  be  Christ  alone  that  his  affections  are  fixed 
upon.  But  if  his  attention  is  drawn  away  from  Christ, 
and  fixed  upon  the  dangers  that  are  rising  around  him, 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  251 

then  he  easily  becomes  frightened.  Nothing  can  terrify 
him  while  Christ  fills  the  eye  of  his  soul.  He  can  over- 
come all  enemies,  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  strength- 
ening him.  He  may  conquer  all  his  sins,  if  he  looks  to 
Christ,  but  if  he  look  to  his  sins  only,  they  will  conquer 
and  kill  him,  and  he  will  sink  in  them. 

So  that  this  looking  to  Christ,  direct  to  Christ,  is  the 
secret  of  safety  amidst  obstacles  and  dangers.  Sleep- 
walkers will  often  perform  the  most  amazing  feats  of 
dexterity,  and  walk  safely  where,  if  wide  awake,  they  could 
not  venture  without  destruction.  It  is  because  they  do 
not  see  the  dangers  around  them,  but  only  their  own  step 
and  purpose,  and  therefore  go  firmly,  without  trembling, 
and  so  without  evil.  So  it  is  with  the  soul  looking  only 
to  Christ.  It  does  not  seem  to  regard  dangers  at  all,  at 
which  other  men  are  full  of  terror.  And  this  is  true  wis- 
dom, being  fixed  upon  one's  course  for  Christ,  to  regard 
only  one's  own  step  and  purpose  for  him,  and  take  it 
firmly,  as  if  there  were  no  more  dangers  than  are  seen  by 
the  eye  of  a  sleep-walker.  For  safety  consists  in  faith  and 
courage,  and  danger  consists  often  in  fear.  The  sea  bears 
up  the  steps  as  long  as  Christ  is  in  the  eye,  but  when  the 
eye  is  on  the  waves  and  the  wind,  the  sea  opens,  and  'the 
soul  sinks.  Paul,  looking  to  Christ,  could  say,  None  of 
these  things  move  me.  He  was  ready  for  anything.  He 
would  adventure  himself  in  the  theatre  among  wild  beasts 
in  the  shape  of  men  at  Ephesus,  and  if  he  had  gone  in,  he 
would  doubtless  have  come  off  safe.  But  if  'he  had  not 
looked  to  Christ,  he  would  have  been  timid,  thrown  off  his 
balance,  not  self-possessed,  perhaps  terrified,  and  unable  to 
accomplish  anything.  Self-possession  is  a  great  result  of 
the  love  of  Christ  filling  the  soul,  and  taking  away  all  fear 
but  the  fear  of  displeasing  Christ.  With  a  courage  made 
up  of  such  elements  a  man  can  do  anything.  "  Have  I 
served  the  Lord  of  Life  these  thirty  years,"  said  the  holy 
Mr.  Fletcher  to  a  highwayman  who  put  a  pistol  to  his 
breast,  "  that  I  should  now  be  afraid  of  death  ?"  The 


1252  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

calm  courageous  answer,  the  benevolent  look,  and  the 
fearless  reproof,  disarmed  the  murderer,  and  the  man,  we 
believe,  became  a  Christian.  There  are  many  such  in- 
stances of  Satan  being  bound  by  the^  calm,  self-possessed, 
unyielding  courage  of  faith  in  Christ. 

A  man's  word,  in  such  cases,  must  not  be  that  of  Peter, 
Lord,  if  it  be  thou.  That  if  could  never  bind  Satan,  nor 
disarm  death  of  its  terrors.  Yet,  many  times  a  Christian 
can  get  no  further  than  this,  If  it  be  thou.  But  this  is 
unbelief.  A  man  is  more  apt  to  say  this  in  trying  times, 
than  in  prosperous  ones.  In  the  endurance  of  God's 
chastising  discipline,  he  is  sometimes  tempted  to  despair, 
as  if  God  had  given  him  over  to  Satan,  and  he  trembles 
in  fear  of  what  is  coming  next,  and  can  only  say,  Lord,  if 
it  be  thou,  bid  me  come  unto  thee ;  and  then  waits  to  see. 
But  he  should  say,  It  is  the  Lord,  and  though  he  should 
slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him.  When  my  spirit  was 
overwhelmed  within  me,  then  thou  knewest  my  path. 

To  have  a  sense  of  God's  presence,  in  trials,  is  a  sweet 
triumph  of  faith.  But  we  sometimes  feel  that  it  is  God, 
without  feeling  that  it  is  God  as  our  Father  and  Friend. 
This  again  is  unbelief,  and  here  again  comes  up  the  lan- 
guage of  Peter,  IF  it  be  thou.  But  a  Christian  is  bound  to 
trust.  He  has  nothing  to  do,  under  God's  discipline,  in 
God's  service,  with  his  ifs.  Provided  he  trusts  in  God,  he 
is  really  a  Christian,  and  provided  he  be  a  Christian,  then 
there  is  no  doubt  that  all  things  are  working  together  for 
his  good.  So  in  no  circumstances  of  trial  is  he  justified 
in  saying,  IF  it  be  thou;  for  it  always  is  the  Lord. 
Although  he  be  overwhelmed  in  sickness,  death,  loss  of 
friends,  disappointment,  poverty,  evils  of  any  or  every 
kind,  it  is  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  for  good,  and  the  soul 
must  say  with  Job  and  David,  It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do 
what  seemeth  him  good.  What  seemeth  good  to  God  is 
good ;  what  seemeth  good  to  man  oftentimes  is  but  evil. 
Christ  may  come  in  the  night,  in  the  storm,  upon  the  sea. 
When  the  winds  are  up,  and  the  waves  roar,  and  there  is 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  253 

a  tumult  of  the  people,  it  may  be  a  preparation  for  a  calm, 
majestic,  midnight  walk  of  the  Lord  to  the  ship,  to  the 
church,  to  the  hearts  of  his  people.  They  should  not  be 
too  fearful  of  events  that  seem  untoward.  If  God  orders 
them,  God  will  come  with  them,  and  will  show  his  glory 
by  them.  If  as  evil  he  permits  them,  he  can,  notwith- 
standing, bring  greater  good  out  of  them. 

Rejoice,  believer,  in  the  Lord, 

Who  makes  your  cause  his  own  ; 
The  hope  that's  built  upon  his  Word 

Can  ne'er  be  overthrown. 
Though  many  foes  beset  your  road, 

And  feeble  is  your  arm, 
Your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God, 

Beyond  the  reach  of  harm. 

Weak  as  you  are,  you  shall  not  faint, 

Or  fainting,  shall  not  die  ; 
Jesus,  the  strength  of  every  saint, 

Will  aid  you  from  on  high. 
Though  sometimes  unperceived  by  sense 

Faith  sees  him  always  near, 
A  Guide,  a  Glory,  a  Defence ; 

Then  what  have  you  to  fear? 

God  may  come  to  the  believer  in  the  night  of  affliction. 
He  may  have  appointed  the  affliction,  in  order  that  he 
may  come  in  it.  It  may  be  his  chariot  of  love  to  the  soul. 
Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  thy  paths  are  in  the  great  waters, 
and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known.  Some  of  God's  greatest 
mercies  to  his  church  and  to  individuals  have  been 
conveyed  in  this  way.  By  terrible  things  in  righteousness 
wilt  thou  answer  us,  O  God  of  our  salvation.  Affliction 
indeed  is  not  good  in  itself,  but  only  when  God  comes  in 
and  with  it.  Therefore  no  man  is  required  to  desire 
affliction,  or  to  pray  for  suffering,  even  for  Christ's  sake, 
but  if  God  sends  it,  to  faint  not,  but  to  receive  and  bear  it 
as  his  discipline  for  good.  There  is  always  a  need  be 
connected  with  it ;  and  those  who  are  the  subjects  of  such 


254  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

discipline,  "  kept  by  the  power  of  God,"  are  enabled  greatly 
to  rejoice  in  the  promises  of  God,  though  now  for  a  season, 
"  if  need  be,"  they  are  in  heaviness  through  manifold 
temptations.  They  may  thus  even  cpunt  it  all  joy  when 
they  fall  into  divers  trials,  because,  in  the.  endurance  of 
such  trials,  God  dealeth  with  them  as  sons,  and  their  faith 
and  patience  are  perfected.  The  seeds  of  a  harvest  of 
holiness  are  sown,  and  the  causes  are  set  in  motion,  which 
will  work  out  an  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory. 
For,  though  no  chastening  for  the  present  seemeth  to  be 
joyous,  but  grievous,  nevertheless  afterward  it  yieldeth  the 
peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness  to  them  who  are  exercised 
thereby. 

Undoubtedly,  suffering  for  Christ's  sake  is  the  most 
desirable  of  all  suffering.  Paul  and  Peter  both  speak  of  it 
as  a  privilege  vouchsafed.  Not  a  thing  to  be  sought  for, 
but  when  it  comes  in  the  course  of  one's  duty,  to  be  thank- 
ful for,  and  to  glorify  God  on  this  behalf,  that  unto  you  it 
is  given,  not  only  to  believe  in  him,  but  also  to  suffer  for 
his  sake.  If  ye  suffer  for  righteousness  sake,  happy  are 
ye.  Rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's 
sufferings ;  that  when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may 
be  glad  also  with  exceeding  joy.  If  ye  be  reproached  for 
the  name  of  Christ,  happy  are  ye ;  for  the  spirit  of  glory 
and  of  God  resteth  upon  you.  And  if  any  man  suffer  as  a 
Christian,  let  him  not  be  ashamed,  but  let  him  glorify  God 
on  this  behalf.  Paul  even  speaks  of  his  desire  to  be  made 
to  know  the  fellowship  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  But  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  ever  sought  for  sufferings  or 
prayed  for  them,  but  that  he  might  bear  them  for  Christ. 
He  never  rushed  into  danger,  except  where  duty  called 
him,  nor  courted  either  suffering  or  martyrdom  ;  but  having 
been  shown  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for  the  name 
of  Christ,  he  never  shrank  from  duty  because  such  suffer- 
ing was  connected  with  it,  but  went  forward  to  duty, 
moved  by  none  of  these  things.  He  would  not  bring 
suffering  upon  himself  for  Christ  by  imprudence,  but  as  far 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  255 

as  might  be  consistent  with  duty,  avoided  suffering ;  but 
when  it  came  in  the  path  of  duty,  he  thanked  God  for  it. 
And  Paul  was  made  of  such  material,  that  of  two  courses 
of  duty,  open  before  him,  both  to  all  appearance  equally 
profitable  for  usefulness,  he  would  probably  have  chosen 
that  course,  which  involved  in  it  the  most  of  difficulty,  of 
danger,  and  of  suffering.  He  would  have  done  this  out  of 
love  to  Christ,  the  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness,  and 
from  the  feeling  that  it  was  the  greatest  of  all  privileges  to 
be  made  a  partaker  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  But  he 
would  neither  have  courted  suffering,  nor  acted  unneces- 
sarily in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  suffering. 

Thus  far  the  exercise  of  the  faith  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking  is  comparatively  easy.  But  there  is  a  case 
in  which  it  becomes  exceedingly  difficult ;  the  case  of  evils 
which  we  have  brought  upon  ourselves,  by  our  own  folly, 
disobedience,  or  madness.  But  here  again,  if  the  soul  flees 
to  Christ ;  if  with  humble  sorrow  for  sin,  and  for  the  .sins 
which  have  brought  suffering,  and  not  for  the  suffering 
merely,  a  man  goes  to  God ;  then  he  may  be  sure  that  God 
is  in  those  evils,  and  will  direct  and  temper  them,  and 
bring  good  out  of  them.  And  a  man  is  not  to  shut  himself 
up  in  an  iron  cage  because  of  them,  nor  to  say,  My  life  is 
extinct,  my  breath  is  corrupt,  my  hope  is  for  ever  cut  off 
from  the  Lord.  He  must  not  doubt  of  God's  goodness, 
because  of  God's  chastisements,  nor  say,  Lord,  if  it  be  thou, 
bid  me  come  to  thee,  but  he  must  still  cry,  God  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner.  I  will  bear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord, 
because  I  have  sinned  against  him. 

Suffering  of  this  kind  is  indeed  dreadful.  Such  suffer- 
ings as  Samson  experienced,  when  his  eyes  were  destroyed 
by  his  enemies,  and  he  was  thrown  into  the  prison-house 
of  the  Philistines,  were  probably  a  lively  image  of  the 
suffering  of  the  world  of  woe.  And  if  God  did  not  prevent 
it  by  his  grace,  probably  many  a  man  under  such  torment 
would,  like  Judas,  destroy  himself.  But  if  the  soul  humbly 
and  repentingly  trusts  in  God,  God  is  in  and  with  even  such 


256  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

sufferings,  and  can  and  will  bring  good  out  of  them,  and  a 
man  should  say,  It  is  the  Lord.  For  He  it  is,  although  in 
the  very  castle  of  Giant  Despair.  His  sufferings  may  have 
been  brought  upon  him  by  his  own  tfolly,  and  they  may 
have  come  even  after  he  has,  like  Peter,  walked  some  steps 
on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.  And  in  such  a  case  nothing 
can  be  done,  but  simply  the  use  of  Peter's  outcry,  Lord, 
save  me !  Indeed,  in  all  our  failures  this  is  all  that  we  can 
do.  We  can  neither  make  up  for  past  deficiencies,  nor 
atone  for  present  or  past  sins ;  but  we  can  avoid  the  great 
additional  guilt  of  present  unbelief;  we  can  cry  out,  Lord, 
save  me,  and  that  is  the  very  creed  of  faith,  in  three  words. 
There  was  once  written  by  a  great  sufferer  from  the 
habit  of  taking  opium,  and  a  man  of  great  poetical  genius, 
exquisite  sensibility,  vast  learning,  and  extraordinary 
powers  of  mind  (Mr.  Coleridge),  the  following  paragraph 
of  remarks  upon  a  passage  in  the  Table  Talk  of  Luther. 
"  When  Satan  saith  in  thy  heart,  God  will  not  pardon  thy 
sins,  nor  be  gracious  unto  thee ;  I  pray,  said  Luther,  how 
wilt  thou,  as  a  poor  sinner,  raise  up  and  comfort  thyself, 
especially  when  other  signs  of  God's  wrath  besides  do  beat 
upon  thee,  as  sickness,  poverty,  desertion  of  friends  ? 
And  that  thy  heart  begirmeth  to  preach  and  to  say,  Behold 
here  thou  livest  in  sickness,  thou  art  poor  and  forsaken  of 
every  one,  and  miserable  and  wretched,  what  canst  thou 
answer  ?  Can  any  but  Christ  raise  thee  up  ?  Oh  how 
true,  how  affectingly  true,  is  this  !  And  when,  too,  Satan 
the  Tempter  becomes  Satan  the  Accuser,  saying  in  thine 
heart,  this  sickness  is  the  consequence  of  sin,  or  of  sinful 
infirmity,  and  under  such  evidence  of  God's  wrath,  how 
canst  thou  expect  to  be  saved  ?  Well  may  the  soul  cry 
out,  Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  death  that  lives  and 
tyrannizes  in  my  body !  But  the  gospel  answer,  There  is 
redemption  from  the  body  promised  ;  only  cling  to  Christ. 
Call  on  him  continually,  with  all  thy  heart  and  all  thy  soul, 
to  give  thee  strength,  and  be  strong  in  thy  weakness,  and 
what  Christ  doth  not  see  good  to  relieve  thee  from,  suffer 


CHRIST    IN    THE     LITE.  257 

in  hope.  It  may  be  better  for  thee  to  be  kept  humble  and 
in  self-abasement.  The  thorn  in  the  flesh  may  remain, 
and  yet  the  grace  of  God  through  Christ,  prove  sufficient 
for  thee.  Only  cling  to  Christ,  and  do  thy  best.  In  all 
thy  love  and  well-doing  gird  thyself  up  to  improve  and  use 
aright  what  remains  free  in  thee,  and  if  thou  doest  aught 
aright,  say  and  thankfully  believe  that  Christ  hath  done  it 
for  thee.  Oh  what  a  miserable,  despairing  wretch  should 
I  be,"  adds  Mr.  Coleridge  (for  it  was  he  who  wrote  this 
record),  "  if  I  gave  up  the  faith  that  the  life  of  Christ  would 
precipitate  the  remaining  dregs  of  sin  in  the  crisis  of  death, 
and  that  I  should  rise  in  purer  capacity  of  Christ,  blind,  to 
be  irradiated  by  his  light,  empty,  to  be  possessed  by  his 
fulness,  naked  of  merit,  to  be  clothed  by  his  righteousness !" 

This  is  the  creed  of  faith,  Lord,  save  me !  To  this  we 
must  all  come  in  the  end.  All  our  power  is  reduced 
down  to  this,  Lord,  save  me  !  Tne  greatest  Christian  has 
nothing  but  this ;  the  weakest  one  may  and  must  throw 
himself  upon  this.  We  must  all  come  to  this.  We  ought 
to  begin,  continue,  and  end  with  this.  It  was  Peter's 
mistake,  in  the  case  before  us,  and  in  all  his  after  failures, 
that  he'did  not  begin  with  this;  if  he  had,  he  might  not 
have  found  himself  sinking ;  he  ought  to  have  begun, 
where  he  had  to  end,  in  self-despair.  We  must  find  our 
whole  strength  in  this,  Lord,  save  me !  Whether  we 
undertake  our  own  or  others'  salvation,  this  must  be  our 
motto,  Lord,  save  me  !  We  must  persevere  in  this,  relying 
on  nothing  else. 

We  are  to  observe  that  Peter,  when  he  found  himself 
sinking,  did  not  abandon  his  enterprise,  nor  turn  back  to 
get  again  into  the  ship,  which  he  had  left  for  Christ. 
Whatever  were  his  faults,  he  was  not  one  of  your  Pliables, 
who,  having  put  their  hand  to  the  plough,  turn  back,  and 
are  seen  getting  out  of  the  Slough  of  Despond  in  the  way 
back  to  the  City  of  Destruction.  Neither  did  he  call  out 
to  his  fellow  seamen  to  cast  him  a  rope,  or  do  anything  for 
him,  though  he  must  have  been  nearer  to  them,  seemingly, 


258  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

than  he  was  to  Christ ;  but  he  cried  out  after  Christ,  none 
but  Christ.  Indeed,  Christ  was  shining  in  the  darkness  in 
this  hour  of  peril,  while  the  ship  to  him  was  nothing  but  a 
black  hulk,  tossed  and  in  danger.  ?So  he  cried  out  after 
Christ.  There  was  a  singularly  interesting  mixture  of 
faith,  unbelief,  self-confidence,  and  self-despair,  succeeding 
one  another.  But  self-despair  and  faith  gained  the 
victory,  after  all,  looking  only  to  Christ,  exalting  only 
Christ. 

See  the  difference  between  the  Creed  of  Faith  and  the 
Creed  of  Doubt.  If  it  be  thou,  is  the  Creed  of  Doubt ; 
Lord,  save  me,  is  the  Creed  of  Faith.  It  is  truly  said  that 
Doubt  may  bring  an  objection  in  five  words,  or  even  in 
one,  which  it  will  take  Faith  a  great  many  words  to 
answer.  There  is  truth  in  this ;  and  yet  the  Creed  of 
Doubt  is  the  longest  and  the  most  difficult.  The  believer 
has  fewer  things  to  believe  than  the  infidel.  The  believer 
trusts  only  in  God ;  the  infidel  in  the  devil  and  his  own 
sinful  heart.  The  infidel  swallows  things  that  demand  the 
credulity  of  idiots  and  fools  ;  the  believer  accepts  things 
that  demand  simply  the  highest  exercise  of  an  enlightened 
reason.  The  infidel,  having  swallowed  his  portion,  is 
always  in  doubt  and  fear,  even  in  regard  to  things  that  he 
disbelieves.  The  believer,  having  accepted  God's  evi- 
dence, knows  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  him  of 
God.  The  infidel,  even  here,  has  the  devil's  portion,  to 
tremble,  though  Satan  keeps  him  from  believing,  till  it  be 
too  late  for  ever,  till  belief  is  only  the  experience  of  suffer- 
ing. The  believer,  even  here,  has  the  saints'  and  angels' 
portion,  to  rejoice, — to  love  and  to  rejoice — although  as 
yet  he  is  not  permitted  to  see,  but  simply  believes,  and 
that  too  perhaps  amidst  trial  and  suffering.  Yet  in  Christ, 
though  now  he  sees  him  not,  believing,  he  rejoices  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

And  then  the  end,  what  a  difference  in  the  end  !  That 
of  faith,  everlasting  blessedness,  receiving  the  end  of  your 
faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your  souls.  That  of  unbelief 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE,  259 

everlasting  misery,  a  dying  in  your  sins,  and  a  living  in 
the  penalty  of  them  for  ever.  He  that  believeth  on  the 
Son  shall  never  perish,  but  hath  everlasting  life.  He  that 
believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of 
God  abideth  on  him. 

How  blest  thy  creature  is,  O  God, 

When  with  a  single  eye, 
He  views  the  lustre  of  thy  Word, 

The  day-spring  from  on  high  ! 
Through  all  the  storms  that  veil  the  skies, 

And  frown  on  earthly  things, 
The  Sun  of  Righteousness  he  eyes, 

With  healing  on  his  wings. 

Struck  by  that  light,  the  human  heart, 

A  barren  soil  no  more, 
Sends  the  sweet  smell  of  grace  abroad, 

Where  serpents  lurked  before. 
The  soul,  a  dreary  province  once, 

Of  Satan's  dark  domain, 
Feels  a  new  empire  formed  within, 

And  owns  a  heavenly  reign. 

The  glorious  orb,  whose  golden  beams, 

The  fruitful  year  control, 
Since  first  obedient  to  thy  Word 

He  started  from  the  goal, 
Has  cheered  the  nations  with  the  joy 

His  orient  rays  impart ; 
But  JESUS,  'tis  thy  light  alone 

Can  shine  upon  the  heart ! 

COWPER. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

The  Reproof  of  Mercy. 

WE  are  apt  to  judge  of  character  from  bold  and  animated 
profession  ;  it  is  the  mistake  of  the  world  generally.  But 
the  reality  of  character  is  determined  only  by  the  result ; 
the  measure  and  gauge  of  a  man's  virtues  can  be  accurate- 
ly taken,  only  when  it  is  seen  how  they  wear,  and  not  by 
the  piece  out  of  which  he  professes  to  have  cut  them. 
After  all  Peter's  apparent  drafts  on  the  great  Bank  of 
Faith,  he  was  still  Little-Faith.  And  immediately  Jesus 
stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  caught  him,  and  said  unto 
him,  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ? 

If  it  had  not  been  for  Christ's  delineation  of  Peter's  faith, 
we  might  have  supposed,  perhaps,  that  it  was  very  strong, 
that  it  was,  indeed,  a  most  miraculous  faith ;  for  he  walked 
on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.  We  may  have  seen  other 
persons  set  out  in  the  same  bold  manner,  and  stop  and 
sink  as  suddenly.  This  is  not  uncommon  ;  self-presump- 
tion, self-reliance,  or  reliance  even  on  experience  of  grace, 
instead  of  Christ,  may  easily  lead  to  this. 

If  a  man  say  within  himself,  I  have  stock  of  grace 
sufficient  for  such  and  such  an  enterprise,  my  capital  will 
enable  me  to  trade  so  far,  I  was  born  at  such  a  time  ago 
into  Christ,  and  my  established  piety,  my  strength  of  soul 
in  Christ,  will  hold  me  up;  it  is  a  great  mistake.  Past 
experience  alone  will  not  sustain  a  man,  either  now  or  for 
the  time  to  come.  Past  experience  will  justify  a  man  in 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  261 

trusting  Christ  now  and  for  the  time  to  come,  but  not 
in  trusting  in  his  own  strength,  not  even  his  strength 
of  grace.  The  manna  must  be  gathered  daily,  and  as  for 
the  future,  it  must  be  left  to  faith.  Experience,  as  Henry 
Martyn  used  to  say,  rots  on  one's  hands,  if  a  man  trusts 
to  that  instead  of  Christ ;  just  as  the  manna  of  the 
Israelites  bred  worms,  if  they  hoarded  it  up  for  the  morrow, 
instead  of  trusting  in  God  for  a  new  supply.  This  was  a 
striking  lesson  of  faith  in  the  wilderness,  and  we  too  must 
come  to  Christ  daily  for  our  bread,  trusting  not  in  yester- 
day's strength  of  grace,  or  in  what  remains  over,  but  in 
Christ.  Christ,  who  has  supplied,  must  still  supply  it,  or  it 
will  all  fail.  So  a  man  must  say,  I  have  nothing,  can  do 
nothing,  am  nothing,  but  in  Christ. 

Peter  himself  became  strong,  as  well  as  Paul,  only  in 
proportion  as  he  learned  this  lesson,  When  I  am  weak, 
then  am  I  strong,  doing  all  things  through  Christ  strength- 
ening me.  Peter  sinking  was  really  nearer  to  Christ,  than 
Peter  walking  on  the  water.  The  very  failure  of  our 
enterprises  may  sometimes  bring  us  nearer  to  God,  than 
success  in  them,  and  prepare  us  the  better  for  future 
conquests.  If  Peter  had  reached  Christ  in  the  frame  of 
mind  in  which  he  started,  he  might  have  been  further  from 
him  in  reality  than  he  was  before  he  left  the  ship,  and 
more  in  danger  from  pride  and  presumption  in  his  own 
heart,  than  he  could  be  from  all  the  winds  and  waves  on 
the  ocean.  He  was  here  gaining  an  experience  in  Christ, 
which  would  indeed  be  lasting ;  the  experience  of  his  own 
weakness  ;  a  kind  of  manna  which  a  man  may  keep  by 
him  without  danger  of  its  spoiling ;  and  the  experience  of 
Christ's  strength,  equally  good  to  keep  for  remembrance 
and  faith.  After  Christ's  word,  of  which  Peter  had  been 
so  doubtful,  the  foundation  of  faith  was  the  experience  of 
his  own  weakness  and  of  Christ's  strength. 

O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?  Let 
us  see  how  this  question  could  have  been  answered  by 
Peter,  or  how  it  could  be  answered  by  any  one  now,  in 


262  GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 

any  similar  situation,  either  in  the  Christian  life,  or  setting 
out  upon  it.  Can  any  man  tell  any  good  reasons  that  he 
has  for  doubting?  Could  Peter  give  any  satisfactory 
answer  to  Christ's  question  ?  Or  qan  any  man,  required 
to  trust  simply  in  Christ,  and  march  to  duty  at  his  com- 
mand, give  any  satisfactory  reason  for  doubting  ? 

Suppose  we  begin  with  the  evidence,  which  was  the  first 
thing  at  which  Peter  seems  to  have  stumbled.  Lord,  if  it 
be  thou  !  What  greater  evidence  could  Peter  have,  what 
greater  can  any  man  have,  than  God's  Word  ?  If  Christ 
says,  It  is  I,  be  not  afraid,  come  unto  me,  what  evidence 
can  be  greater,  or  could  be  better,  than  that  ?  Is  the 
evidence  of  sense  more  trustworthy  ?  Is  there  any 
evidence  which  is  trustworthy,  not  based  upon  God's 
Word.  The  experience  which  has  not  that  for  its  founda- 
tion, must  be  false.  If  you  cannot  rely  upon  God's  Word, 
there  is  nothing  that  you  can  rely  upon.  God's  Word  is 
the  highest  of  all  evidence,  and  if  that  fails,  if  you  cannot 
rest  upon  that,  you  have  nowhere  else  to  go.  This  was 
Peter's  experience  at  a  later  time.  Lord,  to  whom  shall 
we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life  !  If  a*  man 
cannot  come  to  Christ  and  trust  Christ  on  his  word  simply 
and  solely,  there  is  no  being,  or  place,  or  reality,  or 
evidence  in  the  universe,  that  he  can  go  to  for  relief,  or 
trust  in  for  assurance  and  deliverance.  The  word  of 
Christ  should  be  at  once  the  assurance  of  faith,  the  des- 
truction of  doubt,  the  guide  and  unshaken  confidence  of 
the  soul.  If  it  be  not,  what  can  a  man  do  ?  Whether  he 
be  in  the  ship  or  on  the  waves,  it  makes  no  difference,  he 
is  lost,  there  is  no  refuge  for  him.  For  if  he  cannot  rely 
on  God's  Word,  and  trust  in  Christ  accordingly,  there  is 
no  foundation  for  his  soul,  nor  anything  stable  or  true,  nor 
any  evidence  that  he  can  rest  upon,  nor  any  possibility 
of  peace  or  happiness  in  the  universe. 

Wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?  There  could  not  be 
stronger  evidence  than  that  of  God's  Word ;  if  anything 
be  more  convincing  to  any  soul  than  that,  it  is  because  of 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  263 

something  wrong  in  the  soul ;  evil,  blindness,  the  distortion 
of  depravity  and  unbelief.  If  you  cannot  rely  upon  Christ, 
and  the  evidence  of  his  cross,  and  of  God's  Word  in  him, 
in  regard  to  your  duty,  and  your  support  and  safety  in  the 
performance  of  your  duty,  there  is  nothing  that  you  can 
rely  upon,  but  you  are  lost.  Your  only  salvation  is  the 
acceptance  of  God's  evidence,  and  the  casting  of  your 
whole  being  upon  Christ. 

But  perhaps,  dismissing  the  evidence,  or  accepting  of 
that  unhesitatingly,  you  and  Peter  will  answer  to  the 
question,  Wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?  that  it  was  your 
sins,  your  own  unworthiness  and  great  guilt  that  made 
you  doubt.  But  whom  did  it  make  you  doubt  ?  Just  the 
being,  on  whom  it  ought  to  have  thrown  you  in  the  most 
submissive  confidence.  Your  sins  are  good  reasons  for 
doubting  yourself,  but  not  Christ.  They  are  reasons  for 
self-despair,  but  the  reason  of  all  reasons  for  trusting 
Christ.  Your  sins  are  the  reasons  why  you  must  come  to 
Christ,  not  why  you  should  doubt  Christ.  The  greater 
your  guilt,  the  greater  your  plea  for  mercy,  the  more 
suitable  your  case  for  his  interposition  ;  and  the  greater 
your  guilt  the  greater  the  reason  why  you  should  not 
doubt  him,  but  amidst  winds  and  waves  fly  to  him.  Sin 
should  make  every  man  distrustful  only  of  himself,  trustful 
in  Christ,  unbelieving  only  in  himself,  believing  in  Christ. 
Sin  is  in  fact  the  sinner's  claim  on  Christ ;  he  has  no 
other.  It  is  not  the  bar  in  the  way'  of  mercy,  but  the 
reason  for  mercy.  So  the  sinner  must  believe,  not  in 
spite  of  his  guilt,  but  because  of  it ;  he  must  beg  for  par- 
doning mercy,  not,  notwithstanding  the  greatness  of  his 
guilt,  but  by  reason  of  it.  For  thy  name's  sake  pardon 
mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great.  His  sins  are  the  great 
reason  of  faith,  so  many  arguments  for  believing,  so  many 
grounds  for  faith  to  rest  upon.  So  instead  of  answering 
to  the  question,  Wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?  Because 
of  the  greatness  of  my  guilt ;  that  is  to  be  alleged  as  the 
very  reason  for  believing.  If  you  are  asked,  Wherefore 


264  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

do  you  believe,  you  may  well  say,  Because  I  am  a  sinner, 
a  guilty,  lost  sinner,  and  the  gospel  is  just  for  me  and  my 
case,  and  none  but  an  Almighty  Saviour  could  have 
contrived  it  for  me,  or  brought  it  Ho  me.  The  gospel 
belongs  to  me,  and  Christ  belongs  to  me,  and  is  mine, 
because  I  am  so  great  a  sinner.  You  may  put  the 
adversary  of  the  soul  to  flight  with  this  argument,  when  his 
powerful  malice  will  be  overcome  by  none  other.  When 
he  presents  your  guilt  as  the  reason  of  unbelief,  do  you 
present  it  as  the  ground  of  faith. 

And  so  in  all  your  enterprises  for  Christ,  if  tempted  to 
despair,  because  of  your  unworthiness  and  unfitness  for 
the  work  Christ  calls  you  to  do,  or  the  errand  he  sends  you 
upon,  make  tha,t  an  argument  of  faith  ;  an  argument  indeed 
for  self-despair,  but  for  casting  all  upon  Christ,  and  for 
going  forward  cheerfully,  boldly,  fearless  of  the  conse- 
quences, throwing  all  upon  him.  Your  guilt  is  not  a 
reason  for  not  engaging  in  his  service,  but  for  casting 
yourself  entirely  upon  his  grace  in  that  service.  Your 
weakness  is  not  a  reason  for  abandoning  your  enterprise, 
or  doing  little  for  Christ,  but  it  is  a  reason,  the  great 
reason,  for  coming  to  Christ  perpetually,  that  his  strength 
may  be  manifested,  perfected,  and  glorified  in  your 
weakness. 

Cheer  up,  ray  soul,  there  is  a  mercy-seat 
Sprinkled  with  blood,  where  Jesus  answers  prayer ; 
There  humbly  cast  thyself  beneath  his  feet, 
For  never  needy  sinner  perished  there. 

Lord,  I  am  come  !  thy  promise  is  my  plea ; 
Without  thy  word  I  durst  not  venture  nigh; 
But  Thou  hast  called  the  burdened  soul  to  Thee, 
A  weary,  burdened  soul,  O  Lord,  am  I ! 

Bowed  down  beneath  a  heavy  load  of  sin, 
By  Satan's  fierce  temptations  sorely  pressed, 
Beset  without,  and  full  of  fears  within, 
Trembling  and  faint,  I  come  to  Thee  for  rest. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  265 

Be  Thou  my  Refuge,  Lord,  my  hiding-place ! 
I  know  no  force  can  tear  me  from  thy  side, 
Unmoved  I  there  may  all  accusers  face, 
And  answer  every  charge  with  JESUS  DIED. 

Yes,  Thou  didst  weep,  and  bleed,  and  groan,  and  die, 
Well  hast  Thou  known  what  fierce  temptations  mean ; 
Such  was  thy  love,  and  now,  enthroned  on  high, 
The  same  compassions  in  thy  bosom  reign. 

Lord,  give  me  faith !     He  hears — what  grace  is  this ! 
Dry  up  thy  tears,  my  soul,  and  cease  to  grieve ! 
He  shows  me  what  he  did,  and  who  He  is, 
I  must,  1  will,  I  can,  I  do  believe. 

NEWTON. 

But  again,  perhaps  you  and  Peter,  when  Christ  asks, 
Oh !  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?  are 
ready  to  answer,  The  dangers,  the  dreadful  dangers,  the 
tempests,  the  winds  boisterous,  the  waves  raging.  Again, 
here  is  a  reason  for  trusting  Christ,  not  for  disbelieving. 
A  reason  for  pressing  towards  Christ,  not  for  resisting, 
staying  away,  or  turning.  For,  who  can  overcome  these 
dangers,  or  save  you  from  them,  but  Christ  ?  Whom  will 
they  obey,  but  him  only  ?  Who  knows  them  perfectly,  or 
can  control  them,  but  he  ?  Besides,  your  business  is  with 
Christ,  dangers  or  no  dangers,  irrespective  of  everything. 
What  hast  thou  to  do  with  the  dangers,  if  thou  hast  the 
command  of  thy  Lord  in  thy  course,  and  plain  duty  ?  In 
such  a  case  the  dangers  are  nothing  to  thee ;  they  are  not 
to  be  considered  ;  they  are  Christ's  business,  Christ's  care. 
Thy  care  must  be  Christ's  work,  his  is  thy  life  and  protec- 
tion. Thou  art  setting  out  in  duty.  Now  perhaps  the 
wind  begins  to  rise,  but  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  Thou  must 
still  take  thy  steps  towards  Christ  and  for  Christ.  Hast 
thou  taken  one  step  ?  What  must  thou  do  next  ?  Stand 
still,  and  gaze  about  upon  the  dangers  ?  Oh  no  !  but  look 
for  the  next  step.  Look  to  Christ,  and  take  the  next  step. 

It  may  be  it  is  the  Slough  of  Despond  that  thou  art 

13 


266  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

passing  through,  and  thy  soul  is  cast  down  within  thee. 
Look  for  the  steps,  scripture  steps,  promises  and  directions. 
On  them  step  forward  to  Christ,  and  thou  art  safe,  even 
amidst  that  Slough  of  Despond  and  those  dangers.  Thou 
wilt  be  out  of  it  soon,  and  on  the  side  towards  the  shining 
light.  But  even  if  thou  miss  the  steps,  and  sink  deeply, 
thou  hast  still  nothing  to  do  but  to  struggle  towards  Christ. 
When  Christ  is  the  end  and  aim  of  all  effort,  a  man  is  sure 
of  safety  and  success.  It  may  not  be  success  according 
to  the  flesh,  but  it  will  be,  according  to  the  spirit.  Christ's 
mercy  shall  be  exalted  and  manifested,  and  Christ's  glory 
shall  be  accomplished  in  all  his  dealings  with  the  soul  that 
in  all  things  aims  at  him.  Aiming  at  Christ,  making  him 
your  end,  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  final  defeat  or 
disappointment.  The  dangers  that  surrounded  you  shall 
accomplish  only  his  object  and  your  good,  while  your  soul 
is  stayed  on  him. 

But  again,  perhaps  you  answer  to  the  question,  Where- 
fore didst  thou  doubt  ?  Because  you  are  in  darkness.  The 
dangers  you  think  would  be  nothing,  if  you  only  enjoyed 
the  light,  but  you  are  in  darkness,  and  therefore  do  you 
doubt.  Doubt  whom  ?  Should  darkness  in  yourself  make 
you  doubt  Christ  ?  Oh  no,  it  is  rather  an  argument  for 
faith ;  for  in  him  is  light  and  in  him  only  ;  in  him  is  light, 
and  no  darkness  at  all  ;  and  therefore,  the  greater  the 
darkness  that  you  find  elsewhere,  the  more  earnestly  ought 
this  to  make  you  be  pressing  on  towards  Christ,  till  in  him 
you  find  light.  It  will  always  be  darkness  out  of  him. 
Come  to  him,  therefore,  for  light.  The  darker  it  is  with 
you,  the  darker  around  you,  and  the  darker  in  your  own 
soul,  the  greater  the  reason  for  relying  on  the  Lord.  It 
will  not  help  you  to  stay  where  you  are,  it  will  not  help 
you  to  brood  over  the  darkness,  it  cannot  make  your  case 
worse  to  go  forward  to  Christ,  and  in  fine,  trusting  in 
Christ,  waiting  on  him  is  the  only  thing  you  can  do.  It  is 
the  very  thing  you  are  commanded  to  do.  Who  is  among 
you  that,  hearing  the  voice  of  God's  Word,  walketh  in 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  267 

darkness  and  hath  no  light  ?  Let  him  trust  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  and  stay  himself  upon  his  God.  But  in  truth 
a  man  can  never  say  that  there  is  no  light.  When  all 
other  light  fails,  and  there  is  none  inward  and  none  exter- 
nal, there  is  light  in  God's  Word.  If  there  is  no  light  in 
the  soul  for  it  to  enjoy,  there  is  light  in  God's  Word  for  it 
to  be  guided  by.  Let  it  follow  that,  and  there  will  be  light 
in  the  soul. 

Darkness  is  a  reason  for  doubting  everything  but  Christ, 
but  a  reason  for  trusting  in  him,  drawing  near  to  him,  and 
keeping  .close  at  his  side.  Darkness  is  a  reason  for  dis- 
trusting oneself,  and  walking  warily  in  prayer,  and  crying 
out  for  Christ's  help,  but  certainly  not  a  reason  for  unbelief. 
When  Peter  was  in  darkness,  nothing  but  darkness  around 
him,  darkness  within  him,  and  the  waves  opening  to  swal- 
low him  up,  Christ  was  shining,  and  the  only  light  that 
could  be  seen  that  night  was  in  him.  It  is  always  so. 
We  may  seem  to  have  light  in  ourselves,  but  it  may  be 
mere  ignorance  and  pride  ;  or  if  there  is  real  light  it  is 
only  because  Christ  is  shining  within  us,  and  upon  us,  and 
some  reflection  is  seen  of  his  own  light.  Darkness  in  our- 
selves, and  darkness  around  us,  is  no  reason  for  doubting  the 
light,  but  for  believing  in  it,  loving  it,  and  pressing  forward 
to  it.  I  am  the  light  of  the  world  :  he  that  followeth  me  shall 
not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life. 
While  ye  have  the  light,  believe  in  the  light,  that  ye  may 
be  children  of  the  light.  Walk  while  ye  have  the  light, 
lest  darkness  come  upon  you  ;  for  he  that  walketh  in  dark- 
ness knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth.  Again  we  say,  though 
at  the  hazard  of  repetition,  darkness  is  no  reason  for  doubt, 
but  a  strong  reason  for  faith ;  for  it  is  plain  that  though  a 
man  may  be  in  darkness,  and  have  great  reason  to  distrust 
himself,  that  is  no  reason  for  distrusting  Christ,  but  for 
pressing  after  him  ;  for  all  the  real  light  of  the  world  is  in 
him,  and  he  that  followeth  him  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.  Why  art  thou  cast  down, 
O  my  soul  ?  Hope  thou  in  God. 


268  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Be  still,  my  heart !  these  anxious  cares 
To  thee  are  burdens,  thorns,  and  snares; 
They  cast  dishonor  on  thy  Lord, 
And  contradict  his  gracious  Word. 
Brought  safely  by  his  hand  thus  far, 
Why  wilt  thou  now  give  place  to  fear  ? 
How  canst  thou  want,  if  He  provide, 
Or  lose  thy  way  with  such  a  guide  1 

When  first  before  his  mercy-seat 
Thou  didst  to  Him  thy  all  commit, 
He  gave  thee  warrant,  from  that  hour, 
To  trust  his  wisdom,  love,  and  power. 
Did  ever  trouble  yet  befall, 
And  He  refuse  to  hear  thy  call  ? 
And  has  he  not  his  promise  passed, 
That  thou  shalt  overcome  at  last  ? 

He  who  has  helped  thee  hitherto, 
Will  help  thee  all  thy  journey  through, 
And  give  thee  daily  cause  to  raise 
New  Ebenezers  to  his  praise. 
Though  rough  and  thorny  be  the  road, 
It  leads  thee  home  apace  to  God  ; 
Then  count  thy  present  trials  small, 
For  heaven  will  make  amends  for  all. 

NEWTON. 

Now  the  consideration  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  question 
shows  us  that  there  is  such  a  faith  as  to  exclude  doubt ; 
that  in  respect  to  Christ  it  always  ought  to  exclude  doubt, 
doubt  in  regard  to  him  being  the  consequence  of  sin,  and 
in  itself  a  sinful  state  of  mind.  This  entire  faith,  exclud- 
ing all  unbelief,  ought  to  be  the  possession  of  every 
Christian.  No  Christian  ought  ever  to  entertain  a  doubt 
of  Christ's  promises,  Christ's  forgiving  mercy,  Christ's 
supporting  presence  and  all-sufficiency.  Every  Christian 
ought  to  have  the  fullest  confidence  of  Christ's  presence 
in  his  path  of  duty,  and  ought  to  tread  that  path  without 
fear,  and  with  the  fullest  faith,  even  though  in  darkness. 
The  secret  of  this  faith  is  simply  an  eye  single  to  Christ 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  269 

and  his  glory,  with  which  the  whole  body  shall  be  full  of 
light.  If  self  be  out  of  the  way,  and  the  heart  looking 
only  to  Christ,  anxious  only  to  please  him  and  advance  his 
kingdom,  then  there  is  no  opportunity  for  darkness,  and 
nothing  at  all  but  light  and  glory  in  the  prospect.  Every 
Christian  ought  so  to  believe  in  Christ,  and  so  to  follow 
him,  as  to  have  the  light  of  life.  It  is  a  most  remarkable 
expression,  this  light  of  life.  He  shall  have  light  upon 
his  life,  and  the  experience  and  enjoyment  of  that  life, 
which  itself  is  light.  Life  in  Christ,  a  partaking  of  his 
holiness,  a  quickening  sense  of  his  preciousness  and  pre- 
sence, an  eye  single  to  him,  is  itself  a  light  upon  every- 
thing, and  invests  everything  with  light.  Love  itself  is 
light,  and  the  light  of  life  is  love.  When  love  reigns, 
faith  reigns,  and  there  is  no  room  for  doubt  or  darkness. 
Even  the  commencement  of  such  a  state  in  this  world  is 
blessed,  but  what  must  the  perfection  of  it  be  in  heaven, 
where  every  holy  soul  will  love  as  it  is  loved,  and  see  as  it 
is  seen.  A  man  should  aim  to  live  as  habitually  in  this 
state  as  possible,  here  upon  earth,  for  it  is  the  only  state 
of  power,  usefulness,  and  happiness. 

The  case  of  these  disciples  of  Christ,  and  especially  of 
Peter,  teaches  an  interesting  lesson  as  to  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  perfection  of  the 
Christian  character.  Take  Peter  as  he  was  in  the  gospels, 
especially  in  the  early  part  of  his  career  of  discipleship, 
and  compare  him  with  Peter  in  the  epistles,  and  what  a 
surprising  change !  What  humility  and  meekness,  what 
richness  of  knowledge  and  love,  what  calmness,  gentleness, 
and  stability  of  faith,  his  unbelief  all  gone,  his  faith  the 
source  of  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  So  may  any 
and  every  sincere  Christian,  sincerely  striving  after  Christ, 
hope  that  the  dross  of  unbelief  shall  at  length  be  purged 
away.  Peter's  faith  was  wavering  even  till  after  the  cru- 
cifixion of  his  Lord  ;  it  would  utterly  have  failed,  but  for 
Christ's  mercy,  in  the  hour  of  temptation  and  suffering. 
But  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  said  the  gracious  Saviour,  that 


270  GRACE  AND  TRUTH, 

thy  faith  fail  not.  He  who  caught  Peter  and  raised  him 
up  when  sinking  in  the  sea,  raised  him  up  also  when  he 
had  fallen  beneath  the  temptations  of  Satan,  who  would 
have  him  to  sift  him  as  wheat,  tjad  not  Christ  prayed 
for  him,  he  would  never  have  been  raised  up  from  that 
fall ;  he  would  not  even  have  had  faith  to  cry,  Lord,  save 
me  ! 

All  depends  on  Christ ;  faith,  strength,  grace,  persever- 
ance, success,  hope,  life,  everything, — all  depends  on  Christ. 
The  end  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  all  preaching  and 
writing /row  that  Word,  is  Christ ;  the  object  and  end  of 
the  Sabbath  and  all  its  ordinances,  is  Christ ;  the  purpose 
of  all  God's  providence  and  grace,  is  Christ ;  the  object, 
end,  and  soul  of  every  Christian  enterprise,  is  Christ.  He 
is  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last.  A  man  must  be  in  Christ,  and  have  an 
interest  in  Christ's  prayers,  a  portion  in  Christ's  love,  or, 
though  he  have  all  knowledge,  he  is  nothing ;  nay,  he  is  a 
sinful,  self-willed  possessor  of  the  element  of  evil,  powerful 
for  nothing  but  evil,  and  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  burned. 
He  might  have  power  to  live  a  thousand  lives  in  one,  or  to 
ward  off  the  stroke  of  death  for  a  thousand  years ;  he 
might  walk  on  a  thousand  raging  seas  unharmed,  and  have 
power  to  defy  all  the  elements  ;  he  might  have  at  his  com- 
mand the  riches  of  a  thousand  worlds  ;  but,  unacquainted 
with  Christ,  he  is  a  sinful,  miserable,  lost  soul.  The  "pro- 
blem of  a  man's  whole  existence,  therefore,  is  to  find 
Christ,  to  come  to  Christ,  to  be  found  in  Christ. 

Of  all  the  gifts  thy  hand  bestows, 

Thou  Giver  of  all  good, 
Not  heaven  itself  a  richer  knows, 

Than  my  Redeemer's  blood. 

Faith,  too,  the  blood-receiving  grace, 

From  the  same  hand  we  gain ; 
Else,  sweetly  as  it  suits  our  case, 

That  gift  had  been  in  vain. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  271 

Till  Thou  thy  teaching  power  apply, 

Our  hearts  refuse  to  see, 
And,  weak  as  a  distempered  eye, 

Shut  out  the  view  of  Thee. 

Blind  to  the  merits  of  thy  Son, 

What  misery  we  endure  ! 
Yet  fly  that  hand,  from  which  alone 

We  could  expect  a  cure. 

We  praise  Thee,  and  would  praise  Thee  more ! 

To  Thee  our  all  we  owe  ; 
The  precious  Saviour,  and  the  power 

That  makes  him  precious  too. 

COWPER. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Justification  by  Faith,  and  obedience  after  it. — The  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

THE  windings  of  the  River  of  the  Water  of  Life,  sup- 
posed as  a  stream  on  which  the  soul  is  sailing,  land  a  man, 
at  whatever  point  he  would  effect  a  landing,  only  on  the 
ground  of  Justification  by  Faith.  Many  a  man  has  en- 
deavored to  save  himself  by  a  new  life  of  his  own,  by 
the  careful,  costly  manufacture  of  a  morality,  by  which  he 
would  fain  meet  the  demands  of  a  violated  law,  but  has 
come  to  the  discovery  that  what  he  needs  is  a  new  life  in 
Christ,  with  Christ  and  not  self,  as  the  soul  of  it.  What 
he  needs  is  first  of  all  a  Saviour,  not  a  helper,  for  that 
merely  could  do  him  no  good,  but  a  Saviour ;  a  Saviour 
for  him  in  his  sins,  and  without  any  morality ;  a  Saviour 
from  his  sins,  and  then,  thus  saved,  thus  justified,  before 
there  is  any  the  least  imaginable  ground  of  justification  in 
himself,  love  produces  a  morality  which  self  could  not 
produce,  a  morality  which  is  true  piety,  a  morality  which 
is  the  consequence  of  Christ  in  the  soul,  and  not  a  propi- 
tiatory bribe  to  induce  him  to  come  to  the  soul.  He  comes, 
and  then  there  is  true  morality  ;  but  there  is  no  morality 
until  he  comes. 

There  may  be  great  and  painful  efforts  after  it  ;  waxen 
figures  wrought  out  and  exquisitely  painted,  and  great 
endeavors  to  breathe  the  breath  of  life  into  them ;  but  all 


GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  273 

such  attempts  do  but  increase  the  anguish  in  any  man'? 
soul,  who  is  truly  in  earnest  as  Luther  was,  and  do  but 
unveil  to  him  more  clearly  his  guilt  and  misery.  The 
effort  is  like  pouring  oil  upon  a  house  in  flames.  All 
attempts  at  self-amendment  and  salvation  apart  from 
Christ  are  like  that  sick  woman's  physicians,  on  whom, 
before  Christ  came,  she  had  spent  all  her  living,  and  never 
grew  better,  but  rather  grew  worse.  While  refusing  to 
submit  to  God's  way  of  salvation  through  and  in  Christ, 
every  resort,  expedient,  and  effort  of  the  soul,  and  its  very 
anguish  and  restless  fever  of  anxiety  and  inward  conflicts, 
are  but  a  disclosure  of  sin  perpetually  increasing,  and  of 
the  obstinacy  of  a  self-will  still  holding  out  against  God. 
These  things  only  return  back  upon  the  hardened  sinner 
to  increase  the  already  intolerable  weight  upon  his  soul. 
So  that  in  endeavoring  to  mount  the  ladder  of  his  own 
repentance  and  morality  towards  heaven,  a  man  is  like 
those  who  mount  the  scaling-ladders  against  an  impregna- 
ble besieged  castle,  only  to  have  the  ponderous  ladders 
themselves  thrown  back  upon  them  to  crush  them.  A 
man  must  quit  his  physicians  and  his  scaling-ladders,  and 
throw  himself  only  upon  Christ. 

There  are  three  great  laws,  or  forms  of  law,  to  which 
our  immortal  being  bears  an  inevitable  and  eternal  rela- 
tion. These  are,  first,  the  Law  of  God,  for  our  govern- 
ment ;  second,  the  Law  of  Sin  and  Death  in  our  depraved 
nature  ;  third,  the  Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Under  the  first  we  are,  as  immortal  beings, 
eternally  responsible  ;  under  the  second  we  are,  if  not 
redeemed  by  grace,  eternally  in  bondage ;  under  the  third 
we  are  not  in  subjection  naturally,  but  may,  by  divine 
grace,  if  we  will,  be  brought  beneath  its  blessed  power, 
redeemed  by  it  from  sin  for  ever. 

By  the  two  first  of  these  laws  there  is  nothing  but  con- 
demnation. God's  law  itself  is  a  law  of  sin  and  of  death, 
because  it  convinces  of  sin,  and  can  give  to  the  sinner 
nothing  but  the  penalty.  It  is  a  law  of  sin,  because  it 

13* 


274  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

makes  sin  appear.  It  discovers  the  guilt  of  transgression. 
The  light,  though  it  is  a  law  of  transparency  only,  might 
be  called  the  law  of  colors  and  of  shadows,  because  it 
reveals  colors,  and  is  the  occasion  for  shadows  to  appear. 
So  the  law  of  God,  though  in  itself  holiness,  and  a  law  of 
holiness,  may  be  called  a  law  of  sin,  as  showing  what  sin 
is,  and  demonstrating  its  existence.  It  is  a  law  of  sin, 
showing  man  to  be  a  sinner.  And  it  is  a  law  of  death, 
because  it  adjudges  him  to  death. 

By  the  second  of  these  laws,  or  forms  of  law,  there  is 
both  condemnation  and  execution,  and  nothing  else  ;  for 
the  law  of  sin  and  death  in  our  nature  is  an  active, 
indwelling  principle.  It  is  a  life,  which  itself  is  sin  and 
death,  in  our  mind,  heart,  will,  conscience  ;  in  our  habits 
of  alienation  from  God,  in  our  selfishness  and  unbelief.  It 
is  character  ;  and  the  law  of  fixed  character  is  as  stable 
as  the  law  of  the  universe.  It  is  a  voluntary,  innate, 
permanent,  active,  habitual  tendency  and  disposition. 
This  being  a  disposition  to  sin,  our  chosen  corrupt  nature 
is  to  us  a  law  of  sin  and  of  death.  We  are  slaves  to  it, 
and  the  fact  of  its  being  a  voluntary  bondage  makes  it 
incomparably  more  disastrous.  We  are  alive  only  to  evil, 
and  dead  only  to  good.  Left  to  ourselves,  we  are  unceas- 
ingly under  an  evil  self,  as  our  law,  and  of  course  under 
condemnation  of  God's  law.  By  nature,  in  our  evil  will, 
we  are  children  of  wrath.  Our  bondage  is  chosen  and 
self-inflicted,  and  therefore  the  worst  that  possibly  can  be. 
The  principles  of  our  nature  are  the  law  of  our  nature. 
If  the  principles  of  our  nature  are  selfish,  and  the  habits  of 
our  nature  correspondent,  supreme  selfishness  is  more 
certainly  the  law  of  our  nature,  than  if  there  were  for  us, 
as  an  external  law,  the  precept,  Thou  shalt  love  thyself 
supremely.  If  it  were  the  voluntary  principle  and  habit 
of  our  nature  to  steal,  this  world  would  be  a  surer,  stronger 
law  to  us,  than  if  it  were  a  precept  of  our  decalogue, 
Thou  shalt  steal.  Of  all  forms  of  law,  an  evil  will  is  the 
most  certain  in  its  operation. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  275 

This  is  the  dread  law  to  which  the  Apostle  Paul  refers, 
as  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death.  Of  all  conceptions,  or 
imaginations,  or  realities,  or  possibilities  of  evil,  it  is  the 
worst.  Of  all  forms  or  essences  of  hell,  that  ever  entered 
into  the  field  of  thought,  vision,  or  superstition,  swept  over 
by  an  angry  conscience,  the  dominion  of  such  a  law,  the 
existence  of  such  a  nature,  is  infinitely  the  most  horrible. 
All  the  miseries  in  the  universe  do  not  amount  to  any 
possibility  of  comparison  with  the  misery  of  being  under 
such  a  law.  All  the  blessings  of  the  universe,  though  we 
were  put  in  possession  of  them,  could  do  us  no  good,  could 
make  no  alleviation  of  our  state  of  unescapable  woe 
beneath  this  law.  It  is  a  law  that  makes  evil  triumphant 
over  good,  and  converts  good  into  evil.  For  a  being  of  an 
evil  nature  there  is  no  possibility  of  good  ;  the  evil  will 
come  out  and  conquer.  This  nature  will  be  developed, 
will  burst  up  out  of  all  restraints  and  artificial  conceal- 
ments, and  over  all  dykes,  and  will  rule  supreme  above 
everything.  The  element,  as  the  element  of  fire,  if  not 
eradicated,  will  conquer. 

It  is  under  restraint  now,  the  restraint  of  a  state  of 
probation,  the  restraint  of  God's  mercy  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  scheme  of  redemption,  the  restraints  of  the 
gospel,  of  the  Word  of  God,  of  Divine  Providence,  of 
grace,  of  prudence,  of  friends,  families,  neighbors,  of  fears 
and  hopes,  of  human  laws  and  hindrances.  It  is  modified, 
balanced,  checked,  repressed,  concealed  ;  but  it  is  still  the 
law,  the  ruling  principle,  the  principle  of  nature  and  of 
destiny  ;  and  when  all  surrounding  influences  are  gone, 
when  the  arrangements  of  a  probationary  state  no  more 
encompass  the  soul,  when  nothing  but  evil  encompasses  it, 
and  exasperations  and  developments  of  evil  principle,  then 
it  will  show  itself  supreme  and  eternal.  We  may  be  insen- 
sible to  it  now,  we  may  deny  it  now,  and  demand  more 
evidence  ;  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  full  evidence 
would  be  our  ruin.  Full  evidence,  compulsory  evidence, 
the  evidence  of  complete  experience,  and  demonstration 


276  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

by  experience,  would  be  the  entire  development  and  con- 
quest of  the  evil  principle,  converting  earth  itself  into 
hell,  a  world  of  probation  into  a  world  of  consequences, 
ourselves  into  demons,  our  state  int<>  that  of  unalterable 
sin  and  despair. 

It  is  the  very  peculiarity  of  our  evidence,  that  it  is  evi- 
dence for  future  action,  evidence  from  God's  Word  and 
our  own  partial  experience,  and  not  demonstration  in 
experience  filled  up  and  finished,  which  would  be  simply 
our  ruin  in  hell.  It  is  evidence  of  tendency,  sure,  unalter- 
able tendency,  given  in  a  world  of  probation  and  mercy, 
for  warning  and  recovery.  The  partialness  of  the  evi- 
dence is  the  very  result  of  God's  mercy,  that  we  may  fly 
while  it  is  partial,  before  we  are  in  the  burning  deep,  to 
him  who  only  can  save  us  from  that  deep,  to  which  the 
law  and  tendency  of  our  nature  is  rapidly  and  surely  con- 
ducting us.  Therefore,  to  make  the  partialness  of  this 
evidence  a  reason  for  denying  it,  is  to  make  the  very 
mercy  of  God  the  means  of  our  destruction.  And  yet 
there  are  those  who  deny  the  essential  depravity  of  their 
hearts  and  of  all  mankind,  because  it  does  not  break  out 
in  nothing  but  depravity  ;  because,  they  say,  your  doctrine 
makes  men  demons  ;  your  doctrine  is,  that  men  hate  God, 
and  if  it  were  so,  the  world  would  be  filled  with  nothing 
but  enmity,  whereas  there  is  in  it  a  vast  deal  of  goodness, 
of  benevolence,  of  kindness,  of  the  recognition  of  God's 
bounty,  and  regard  to  his  laws.  And  who  does  not  see 
that  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  if  God  maintains  a  state  of 
probation,  if  he  checks,  restrains,  and  softens  human 
depravity  so  far  by  goodness  and  merc}^,  as  to  render  the 
offer  of  the  gospel  possible  and  appreciable  ;  if  he  does  not 
let  the  tendency  and  law  of  human  nature  go  on  to  its 
completion,  to  make  indeed  a  hell  on  earth,  in  which  there 
would  be  no  possibility  of  change.  Who  does  not  see 
that  the  evidence  of  entire  depravity  in  man  must  be  par- 
tial except  on  God's  authority,  if  God  in  mercy  stops  that 
depravity  in  its  mid-career,  and  does  not  let  men  yet 


CHRIST    IN     THE    LIFE.  277 

become  demons  in  their  enmity,  in  order  that,  being 
warned,  and  a  time  given  them,  they  may  fly  to  Christ  to 
take  away  that  enmity,  and  train  them  up  for  heaven. 
The  perversion  of  this  state  of  things  into  an  argument 
against  God's  own  declaration  that  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God,  and  that  men  in  their  corruptions  are 
children  of  wrath  and  children  of  the  devil,  is  one  of  the 
most  terrible  and  guilty  tramplings  on  divine  goodness,  into 
which  Satan  ever  trapped  a  human  soul.  No  man  who 
values  the  possibility  of  salvation  will  be  deceived  by  such 
reasoning.  No  man  of  any  fairness  to  himself,,  but  will 
take  God's  Word  as  sufficient  assurance  that  the  law  of 
his  nature,  out  of  Christ,  is  a  law  of  sin  and  death. 
This  is  the  condition  of  every  one  of  us,  by  voluntary, 
free,  habitual  nature.  It  is  not  a  law  imposed  upon  us,  but 
a  law  growing  out  of  our  wilful  being.  It  is  our  own  law, 
the  law  of  our  choice,  instead  of  God's  law;  the  law  of  our 
selfishness,  our  guilt,  our  distrust,  our  unbelief ;  our  self- 
indulgence,  self-worship,  and  pure  love  of  sin.  It  is  a 
development  as  sure  to  conduct  us  to  eternal  misery,  as  our 
accountable  existence  is  sure  to  conduct  us  to  eternity 
itself.  This  is  our  work,  even  if  God  had  nothing  to  do, 
and  would  do  nothing,  in  the  execution  of  the  penalty  of 
his  law.  We  are  the  authors  and  artificers  of  our  own 
ruin. 

Now  if  there  were  no  remedy  for  this,  if  we  saw 
ourselves  and  all  mankind  growing  into  such  a  state  of 
immutable  sin  and  death,  and  proceeding  to  such  an  inevi- 
table, eternal  result,  no  words  could  describe,  no  imagina- 
tion could  conceive,  no  created  mind  could  measure  the 
horrors  of  the  spectacle.  It  would  be  agonizing,  infernal, 
intolerable ;  it  would  cover  our  province  of  the  universe 
with  the  blackness  of  darkness  ;  it  would  paralyse  the  soul 
with  despair.  And  such  would  have  been  our  condition, 
but  for  the  system  of  redemption  by  the  Cross  of  Christ. 

This  is  the  very  state  of  misery,  from  which  Christ 
came  to  deliver  us.  Here  is  at  once  the  cause  and  the 


278  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

glory  of  his  interposition  ;  an  interposition  in  behalf  of 
beings  under  a  self-originated  and  self-sustained  law  of 
enmity  against  God  ;  and  so  much  the  more  glorious,  so 
much  the  more  wonderful,  in  its  conception  and  its  execu- 
tion, by  as  much  as  our  depravity  was  deeper,  more 
voluntary,  more  inimical.  It  is  no  honor  to  God,  nor  any 
release  of  his  Word  from  the  charge  of  a  gloomy  theology, 
to  deny  the  fact  of  entire  human  depravity.  But  it  does 
immeasurably  exalt  the  great  transaction  of  the  Atonement, 
and  sets  the  wonderful  love  and  mercy  which  inspire  that 
scheme  in  a  manifestation  incomparably  brighter,  when  the 
fact  of  that  deep  and  deadly  depravity  is  taken  as  it  is  set 
down  in  the  Scriptures.  The  denial  of  it  fills  all  theology, 
human  and  divine,  with  inexplicable  difficulties  ;  the  accept- 
ance of  it  is  at  once  not  only  a  justification  of  the  ways 
of  God  to  man,  but  a  demonstration  of  the  wisdom  and 
love  of  God  in  Christ  such  as  nothing  else  could  furnish. 
Under  the  system  of  atonement,  the  greatness  of  this 
depravity  stands  not  in  the  way  of  God's  mercy,  but  is  a 
glorious  occasion  for  its  exercise. 

And  here  comes  in  the  great  law  of  deliverance  growing 
out  of  Christ's  redeeming  interposition  ;  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus,  setting  us  free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death.  The  great  glory  of  it  is  that  it  conquers 
our  voluntary  evil  nature,  and  sets  us  free  from  the  law  of 
it,  by  the  introduction  in  its  place,  or  the  exchange  for  it, 
of  an  equally  voluntary  holy  nature  in  Christ.  The  evil 
nature  has  Satan  to  set  it  on  fire,  to  tempt  it,  to  co-operate 
with  it ;  but  the  holy  nature  has  Christ  as  its  origin  and 
support,  and  is  a  participation  in  Christ's  own  nature. 
The  work  of  grace  shall  conquer  the  work  of  depravity  ; 
the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  shall  set  free  the  soul 
from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  Nothing  else  could  do  it, 
nothing  external  to  the  soul ;  no  outward  law  of  excellence 
could  do  it,  nothing  that  did  not  work  within  the  soul  as  a 
living  principle  of  life  and  action.  By  this  new  principle 
introduced,  this  new  determination  of  the  will  in  accord- 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  279 

ance  with  divine  grace,  the  man  is  set  free  from  the  evil 
dispositions  of  the  unregenerate  heart,  from  its  inbred, 
habitual,  long  cherished,  long  growing,  and  powerful  cor- 
ruptions ;  he  is  set  at  liberty  to  serve  God  out  of  love,  no 
longer  bound  in  slavery  to  the  law  of  sin  and  death  in  an 
evil  nature.  This  is  the  great  deliverance  ;  this  is  freedom 
indeed  ;  instead  of  the  death  of  sin,  a  death  to  sin,  a 
redemption  from  its  indwelling -power  by  the  working  of 
an  opposite  power  of  holiness  and  life,  which,  as  Christ's 
own  life,  imparted  to  the  soul,  becomes  the  habit  of  the 
soul.  But  it  is  too  low  an  expression  when  we  say 
imparted  to  the  soul,  for  in  order  to  work  this  freedom,  this 
regeneration,  this  new  creature-ship  in  Christ,  Christ  him- 
self takes  up  his  abode  within  the  soul,  and  works  in  it. 
So  the  man  says — this  freeman  of  Christ — I  live,  yet  not 
I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me.  This  new  life  in  the  soul  is  not 
only  a  life  in  Christ,  but  the  life  of  Christ.  Now  the 
Lord  is  that  Spirit ;  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is, 
there  is  liberty,  liberty  from  the  bondage  of  corruption, 
from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  liberty  of  life,  liberty  of 
holiness,  liberty  to  serve  God,  not  as  a  slave  but  as  a  child, 
not  with  the  Spirit  of  bondage  to  fear,  but  with  the  Spirit 
of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba  Father.  And  thus  the 
Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  Spirit  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God ;  carries,  as  it  were,  our  spirit,  as  the 
fruit  of  Christ  dwelling  and  living  in  us,  to  God,  for  a 
witness  that  we  are  God's  children. 

By  this  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  we  are 
set  free  not  only  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death  in  our 
depraved  natures,  but  also  from  the  condemnation  of  God's 
law.  We  are  set  free  from  God's  law  as  a  law  of  sin  and 
death,  and  in  that  freedom  are  brought  back  under  God's 
law  as  a  law  of  holiness.  We  are  brought  back  to  serve 
the  law  in  newness  of  spirit,  spontaneously,  out  of  love,  not 
out  of  fear  ;  from  gratitude  and  faith,  as  an  offering  of  the 
fruit  of  love,  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  not  as  a  task,  a  work  of  the  law,  a  merit.  It  is  a  work 


280  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

of  love  obeying  the  law,  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
showing  the  transformation  of  the  heart  in  conformity 
with  the  law,  in  obedience,  inward,  inwrought,  permanent, 
spiritual,  spontaneous  obedience  to '  the  will  of  God ; 
obedience  from  the  Spirit  in  the  heart ;  not  from  the  hand 
of  the  law  laid  upon  the  heart,  or  the  rod  held  over  it,  but 
from  that  Spirit  of  holiness,  of  which  the  law  is  merely 
the  expression,  that  Spirit  of  holiness  as  free  as  heaven, 
and  which  itself  would  learn  to  obey  the  law  as  God's  will, 
or  carry  it  into  act  as  the  expression  of  love  to  him,  and 
as  the  work  of  holy  freedom,  even  if  it  were  not  written 
in  God's  Word,  nor  expressed  in  precept.  The  work'  of 
the  law  is  accomplished  in  love,  even  though  there  were 
no  obligation  of  direct  command.  Love  forestals  com- 
mand, love  performs  duty  from  delight,  from  spontaneous 
devotion,  before  the  question  of  duty  comes  up,  and  not 
waiting  for  the  pressure  of  the  law  or  the  urgency  of 
conscience. 

Now  there  is  no  language  that  can  fully  describe  the 
blessedness  of  this  religion,  the  religion  of  justification  by 
faith,  the  religion  of  love  ;  and  its  infinite  superiority  over 
every  form  of  religion  by  works,  the  religion  of  compul- 
sion and  of  fear,  to  which  men  are  driven  by  conscience 
without  love.  Every  form  of  religion  by  works,  salvation 
by  works,  is  a  denial  and  rejection  of  the  gospel,  and  a 
dismal,  scrupulous,  slavish  system.  It  is  a  religion  of 
bargain  and  purchase,  and  not  of  love,  a  religion  of  selfish- 
ness from  beginning  to  end,  and  a  destruction  of  the  very 
possibility  of  disinterestedness.  When  a  man's  religion 
becomes  one  of  merit,  so  much  done  and  so  much  demand- 
ed for  it,  all  true  merit  is  annihilated,  the  merit  of  love, 
and  of  self-consecration.  The  moment  you  introduce  the 
idea  of  merit  as  the  purchase  of  salvation,  you  destroy  the 
idea  of  piety,  the  conception  of  holiness.  You  reduce 
holiness  down  to  the  level  of  a  commercial  traffic.  Your 
holiness  might  be  like  that  of  an  angel,  but  if  you  maintain 
it  for  reward,  as  merit,  to  entitle  you  to  an  inheritance, 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  281 

and  not  out  of  love,  surely  you  do  it  not  for  God.  You 
may  do  it  for  God's  reward,  for  God's  salvation,  for  God's 
heaven,  but  not  for  God.  And  if  you  do  that  to  make 
merit  for  yourself,  to  procure  safety  for  yourself,  to  pur- 
chase an  inheritance  of  happiness  for  yourself  which  you 
would  not  do  from  love,  or  which  you  do  not  do  from  love, 
what  does  this  prove  but  selfishness  ?  You  are  proceeding 
on  mercantile  principles,  as  you  might  give  a  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  construction  of  a  ship  to  pro- 
mote your  interests,  which  sum  you  would  never  dream 
of  giving  to  your  workmen  without  the  equivalent  re- 
turned. 

On  mercantile  principles,  in  the  case  of  men  with  fellow 
men,  this  is  just  enough  and  honest ;  but  in  your  relation 
to  God,  to  whom  you  owe  supreme  love,  and  all  things  in 
love,  it  would  be  naught  but  selfishness.  As  a  merchant 
with  God,  the  balances  of  deceit  and  of  selfishness  are  in 
your  hands.  For,  you  are  merely  God's  steward,  to  take 
care  of  his  goods,  and  you  cannot  be  a  merchant  with  him, 
for  you  have  nothing  of  your  own  to  offer  him,  nothing  of 
your  own  to  give  him,  but  your  own  heart,  and  that 
belongs  to  him,  that  you  owe  him  ;  and  you  can  have  no 
merit  in  giving*  him  that  which  is  his  own,  you  can 
demand  nothing  from  him  in  return  for  that  which  belongs 
to  him.  If  you  do  not  give  it  to  him,  you  withhold  from 
him  that  which  is  his  due ;  you  rob  God  ;  and  if  you  give 
it  to  him  merely  because  you  bargain  for  a  reward,  it  is  a 
transaction  of  mere  selfishness  ;  it  is  no  longer  the  heart 
that  you  give  him,  for  you  destroy  the  heart  in  this  trans- 
action, and  take  away  the  possibility  of  love,  by  making  it 
a  purchase  of  benefits,  an  offering  for  reward.  It  is  on 
your  part  a  deceitful  transaction,  for  you  profess  to  bring 
your  heart,  while  the  terms  on  which  you  bring  it  make 
it  anything  but  a  heart.  The  stipulation  for  reward  takes 
everything  of  heart  out  of  the  transaction.  It  is  a  mercan- 
tile transaction.  So  it  is  none  but  Christ  that  can  put  a 
heart  into  your  offering,  the  heart  of  faith  and  love,  and  he 


282  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

does  that  merely  of  his  own  free  grace,  and  justifies  you 
on  his  own  merits,  not  yours. 

Now  suppose  we  take  a  very  simple,  obvious,  familiar 
illustration.  Here  is  a  basket  of  peajches,  which  you  have 
reared  with  great  care  in  your  own  garden  to  present 
them  to  a  dear  friend,  to  whom  you  are  under  obligation 
for  inestimable  favors,  to  whom  indeed  you  owe  it  that 
you  have  a  house  to  live  in  and  a  garden  to  cultivate. 
Your  friend  does  not  need  your  offering,  but  your  offering, 
though  small,  is  a  thing  of  love.  It  is  precious  for  that 
only.  It  has  no  worth,  even  in  your  own  eyes,  but  as  a 
gift  of  love.  There  is  no  other  motive  in  it  but  gratitude 
and  love.  It  was  your  friend,  whose  great  kindness  made 
it  possible  for  you  to  be  the  possessor  of  that  garden,  and 
while  you  feel  that  you  have  exerted  all  possible  care  in 
getting  this  basket  of  fruit  in  all  possible  perfection  to 
present  to  your  benefactor,  after  all,  it  is  of  his  own  that 
you  have  given  him.  It  is  nothing  but  love  that  makes  it 
precious.  It  is  an  offering  of  gratitude  and  love. 

Now  here  is  another  man  with  a  basket  of  fine  ripe 
peaches,  better,  perhaps,  in  themselves,  than  yours,  which 
he  purchased,  as  of  peculiar  rarity,  at  a  great  expense,  and 
is  going  to  present  them  to  the  same  friend,  your  friend, 
because  he  also  expects,  or  is  trying  to  gain  from  him,  a 
great  favor.  There  is  a  lawsuit  pending,  in  which  is 
involved  this  man's  whole  fortune,  and  by  some  mysterious 
means,  this  your  friend  is  able  to  procure  a  decision  either 
for  or  against  this  man ;  and  this  basket  of  costly  fruit  is 
one  of  the  many  bribes  by  which  he  is  seeking  to  win  his 
favor.  Now  is  there  any  "value  as  an  offering,  in  that 
costly  fruit  ?  Suppose  the  man  is  guilty,  and  takes  this 
mode  of  gaining  favor  as  a  guilty  man,  and  your  kind 
friend  knows  it.  Will  he  take  the  fruit  ?  No,  he  will  not 
take  it.  he  cannot,  as  an  upright  judge,  take  it.  Yet  he 
took  yours,  and  this  man's  seems  superior,  and  cost  much 
more.  But  a  cup  of  cold  water  from  you,  out  of  gratitude 
and  love,  would  be  of  more  value  to  your  friend  than  all 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  283 

the  fruits  from  the  other  that  could  be  purchased  with  the 
wealth  of  Cresus. 

Now  here  is  just  a  simple  symbol  of  the  difference 
between  a  religion  of  works  apart  from  Christ,  and  a 
religion  of  faith  and  love.  Your  basket  of  fruit,  which  is 
the  gift  of  gratitude  and  love,  represents  the  offering  of  the 
heart  and  life  to  God  under  the  influence  of  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  setting  the  soul  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death,  and  producing  a  spontaneous  and 
humble  piety,  as  fruit,  not  as  merit,  as  an  offering  of  grati- 
tude and  love,  not  a  purchase  of  favor.  The  other  basket 
represents  the  offering  of  a  guilty  conscience,  not  recon- 
ciled to  God  in  Christ,  not  believing  and  not  forgiven,  but 
seeking  forgiveness  and  eternal  life  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law,  by  the  observances  of  an  artificial  morality,  as  the 
ground  on  which  heaven  is  to  be  granted.  Say  it  were 
Luther  in  his  cell  scourging  himself,  and  fasting,  and 
giving  alms,  and  praying  night  and  day  by  the  force  of  a 
restless  conscience  and  a  restless  anxiety  for  peace  with 
God.  What  is  Luther  doing,  but  gathering  a  basket  of 
costly  fruit  to  offe*,  instead  of  faith  in  Christ,  as  a  bribe  or 
purchase-offering  to  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  for  pardon, 
peace,  and  admittance  to  heaven  ?  Is  this  piety  ?  O  no  ! 
it  is  the  working  of  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 

What  then  can  be  done?  Cannot  Luther  help  himself? 
Is  there  nothing  that  he  can  do  to  extricate  himself,  and 
can  none  of  the  priests  help  him,  and  are  all  his  weeping 
self-denials,  and  even  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  the 
blessing  of  the  Pope,  and  all  harrowing  austerities  that 
make  men  look  on  him  with  pity,  of  no  avail  ?  Of  none 
but  to  discover  sin.  Luther  can  do  nothing.  He  has  tried 
the  path  of  self-help,  and  it  has  brought  him  again  to  be 
stunned  with  the  thunders  and  burned  with  the  lightnings 
of  Sinai,  and  there  is  nothing  that  he  can  do.  No !  But 
he  can  fall  helpless  into  the  arms  of  his  Redeemer,  and 
arise  a  new  man,  a  man  of  grace,  a  man  justified  by  faith ; 
and  this  every  man  must  do,  or  he  is  lost.  He  hears  and 


284  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

understands  the  import  of  that  powerful  sentence,  The  just 
shall  live  by  faith ;  he  falls  prostrate  before  his  Saviour, 
submissive,  heart-broken,  penitent,  believing ;  and  from 
that  moment  the  law  of  the  Spirit  qf  life  in  Christ  Jesus 
sets  him  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death,  and  makes 
him  one  of  the  mightiest,  cheerfulest,  heartiest  apostles  of 
the  glorious  free  gospel  of  life  by  faith  that  has  trodden  the 
earth  since  the  day  of  Pentecost.  And  is  not  this  a  most 
wondrous,  most  triumphant  deliverance  and  transforma- 
tion ?  And  who,  that  can  experience  the  same,  can  be 
willing  to  remain  as  the  slave  of  Satan,  beneath  the  con- 
demnation of  God's  law  around  and  above  him,  and  in  the 
power  of  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death  within  him  ? 

In  the  work  of  our  salvation,  Christ  must  do  all,  every- 
thing, absolutely  all. 

Banish  every  vain  pretence, 
Built  on  human  excellence. 
Perish  everything  in  man, 
But  the  grace  that  never  can  ! 

There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  purchase,  no  such  thing 
as  merit,  no  such  thing  as  disinterested  motive,  no  such 
thing  as  gratitude  and  love,  and  consequently,  no  such 
thing  as  true  morality,  apart  from  Christ,  nor  until  the 
exercise  of  Christ's  forgiving  mercy,  until  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  makes  the  soul  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  of  death.  The  religion  preached  in  the 
gospel  is  one  entirely  of  free  grace,  grace  free  in  the  gift, 
grace  that  makes  free  in  the  exercise ;  Christ  Jesus  is  not  a 
half-Saviour,  leaving  our  works  to  do  the  rest ;  for  our  best 
works,  even  when  we  have  been  forgiven,  tried  by  the 
law,  would  condemn  us  again,  and  he  must  save  us  from 
our  very  works  of  piety,  as  well  as  our  ways  of  sin,  from 
the  guilt  of  our  very  efforts  to  obey  the  law,  as  well  as 
from  the  condemnation  of  the  law  originally.  In  all  things 
we  must  be  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of  God  is 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  285 

made  unto  us  our  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification, 
redemption. 

How  lost  was  my  condition, 

Till  Jesus  made  me  whole ! 
There  is  but  one  Physician 

Can  cure  the  sin-sick  soul ! 
Next  door  to  death  he  found  me, 

And  snatched  me  from  the  grave, 
To  tell  to  all  around  me 

His  wondrous  power  to  save. 

From  men  great  skill  professing 

I  thought  a  cure  to  gain, 
But  this  proved  more  distressing, 

And  added  to  my  pain  : 
Some  said  that  nothing  ailed  me  ; 

Some  gave  me  up  for  lost; 
Thus  every  refuge  failed  me 

And  all  my  hopes  were  crossed. 

At  length  this  great  Physician, 

How  matchless  is  his  grace ! 
Accepted  my  petition, 

And  undertook  my  case : 
First  gave  me  sight  to  view  Him, 

For  sin  my  sight  had  sealed ; 
Then  bade  me  look  unto  Him ; 

I  looked,  and  I  was  healed ! 

A  dying,  risen  Jesus, 

Seen  by  the  eye  of  Faith, 
At  once  from  anguish  frees  us, 

And  saves  the  soul  from  death. 
Come  then  to  this  Physician ; 

His  help  he'll  freely  give ; 
He  makes  no  hard  condition ; 

'Tis  only  look,  and  live ! 

NEWTON. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  Cross  daily. — The  Morality  of  Faith  the  only  true  and  constant  Morality. 
— Faith  the  element  of  power  in  Prayer. 

WE  have  already  dwelt  somewhat  at  large  on  the  duty  of 
coming  to  Christ,  and  what  is  implied  in  it,  the  nature  of 
a  living  faith,  and  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
Jesus.  But  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  spiritual  life. 
Coming  to  Christ  is  one  thing,  following  Christ  daily  is 
another.  We  have  dwelt  upon  the  vanity,  worthlessness, 
and  selfishness  of  all  morality  away  from  Christ,  or 
regarded  as  the  means  of  coming  to  him.  Human  morality 
is  a  bridge  over  the  gulf  of  our  depravity,  of  which  you 
may  advance  even  to  the  centre,  but  will  find  it  sawed  off. 
And  the  virtues  with  which  we  think  to  swim  the  stream 
are  only  as  floating  bladders  that  carry  us  beyond  our 
depth,  and  then  break,  and  let  us  down  into  the  deep  of  our 
own  iniquities.  Every  refuge  of  lies,  every  relief  from  an 
angry  conscience,  every  attempt  to  flee  from  hell  and 
enter  heaven,  without  Christ,  is  as  if  a  man  did  flee  from  a 
lion,  and  a  bear  met  him  ;  or  went  into  the  house,  and 
leaned  his  hand  upon  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  stung  him. 
Every  staff  without  Christ  is  a  broken,  sharp,  poisonous 
reed,  that  pierces  the  soul. 

We  must  now  dwell,  in  contrast  with  this,  upon  the 
exceeding  value,  the  blessedness,  and  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  a  holy  morality,  which  is  the  effect  of  coming  to 
Christ,  the  proof  that  the  soul  has  come  to  him,  and  the 


GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  287 

essential  business  of  following  him.  It  is  one  thing  to 
come  to  Christ  by  faith  ;  we  cannot  do  that  by  morality, 
though  we  had  the  morality  of  an  angel  ;  we  cannot  come 
by  any  holiness  of  our  own,  having  none  to  come  by. 
But  it  is  another  thing  to  follow  Christ,  which  we  cannot 
do  without  a  holy  morality  that  shall  be  the  fruit  of  faith 
and  love,  the  product  of  God  working  in  us  both  to  will 
and  to  do.  Christianity  stands  on  the  proudest  elevation 
of  pure  morality,  that  is,  the  Christianity  of  justification 
by  faith,  true  Christianity,  above  every  other  form  and 
appearance  of  goodness.  Christianity  begins  with  nothing, 
but  embraces  and  produces  everything.  Self-reliance 
begins  with  everything,  and  ends  in  nothing.  Follow 
Christ ;  that  will  make  morality,  that  will  produce  works. 
Talk  they  of  morals  ?  O  thou  bleeding  Lamb  !  the  sole 
morality  is  love  of  Thee  !  Follow  Christ.  You  cannot 
follow  him  without  a  religion  of  works,  the  soul  and 
heavenly  inspiration  of  which  is  faith  and  love.  Come  to 
Christ,  that  you  may  receive  grace  from  him  ;  come  empty, 
that  you  may  be  filled ;  come  worthless,  that  in  him  you 
may  be  made  worthy  ;  come  ignorant,  that  in  him  you 
may  be  enlightened ;  come  without  works,  that  in  him  you 
may  be  made  rich  in  good  works. 

Having  come  thus  to  Christ,  you  are,  in  the  same 
dependent  manner,  to  follow  him  ;  and  a  great  point  in 
the  morality  which  you  are  thus  to  sustain,  a  morality  and 
self-denial  which  must  have  Christ  as  its  Inspirer  or  it  is 
worthless,  is  this,  that  it  is  a  daily  morality,  a  daily  self- 
denial,  a  daily  following  of  Christ.  The  work  of  religion 
is  not  a  work  that  is  performed  at  once  for  a  lifetime,  by 
coming  to  Christ ;  but  in  it  you  are  to  wait  on  him,  to 
observe  his  movements,  his  ways,  his  words,  his  example, 
continually.  If  there  is  an  air  of  strictness  and  severity 
in  this  work  of  self-denial  daily,  there  is  also  great 
encouragement  in  the  daily  cross,  encouragement  in  its 
dailiness.  You  are  not  required  to  accomplish  all  at  once, 
but  to  follow  on.  You  are  not  to  have  all  the  light  at 


288  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

once,  but  to  follow  on.  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the 
grace  and  strength  thereof.  You  can  follow  Christ,  only 
by  the  same  grace  that  brought  you  to  him ;  but,  trusting 
in  him,  that  is  always  vouchsafed.  J 

Some  persons  seem  to  be  always  trembling  at  the 
thought  of  the  mightiness  of  becoming  a  Christian,  concen- 
trating in  their  own  minds,  in  the  idea  of  becoming  a 
Christian,  almost  the  whole  amount  of  a  lifetime  of  self- 
denial,  conflict,  effort,  watchfulness,  work  upon  self  and 
others.  But  that  is  all  to  be  left  to  Christ  and  his  grace. 
All  the  strength  necessary  for  future  obedience  must  be 
given  by  him,  and  when  the  time  comes  for  its  exercise,  he 
will  give  it  to  the  soul  that  is  waiting  on  him.  But  at 
present  you  have  only  present  duty  to  perform.  You  are 
to  follow  Christ  for  to-day  ;  that  is  duty,  that  is  Christianity. 
Christ  must  renew  your  strength  every  day,  and  every 
day  you  must  come  to  him,  saying,  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread.  If  you  think  that  becoming  a  Christian 
requires  in  you  the  exercise  of  a  grace  and  strength  suf- 
ficient to  last  you  through  life,  it  is  a  great  mistake  indeed. 
Becoming  a  Christian  requires  only  present  submission 
and  trust,  a  willing  heart,  and  a  waiting  on  the  Saviour 
now,  without  any  respect  to  the  future,  except  in  the  article 
of  trusting  in  him  for  it.  Out  of  that  present  trust  springs 
the  future.  You  are  not  required  to  produce  the  future, 
but  to  put  the  seed  of  it  into  the  ground,  as  Christ  gives  it 
to  you.  The  husbandman  is  not  required  to  produce  the 
harvest,  but  to  begin  with  the  first  steps  and  to  follow 
on,  trusting  in  the  Lord  of  the  harvest.  Your  trust  and 
obedience  to-day  are  the  seed  and  bud  of  to-morrow,  and 
out  of  the  blossoms  of  to-morrow  shall  spring  other  buds 
and  blossoms,  and  so  on,  until  your  daily  existence  shall  be 
filled  with  fruit  unto  life  eternal.  The  man  who  trusts 
in  the  Lord  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  a  river,  her 
roots  always  nourished  with  moisture,  her  leaf  ever  green, 
not  careful  in  the  year  of  drought,  nor  ever  ceasing  at  all 
from  yielding  fruit. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  289 

But  all  this  is  the  quiet  growth  of  faith  and  patience. 
It  is  not  required  at  once,  nor  possible  at  once,  but  only 
the  principle  of  it,  ceaselessly  working.  Miss  Jane  Tay- 
lor's story  of  the  discontented  pendulum,  is  admirable  in 
this  application  ;  we  would  call  it,  for  our  purpose,  the 
unbelieving  pendulum.  Reflecting  upon  the  amount  of 
future  duty  it  had  to  perform,  and  going  into  a  calculation 
what  number  of  times  it  must  swing  every  hour,  and 
multiplying  that  by  the  hours  in  the  day,  and  then  the 
days  in  the  month,  and  then  the  months  in  the  year,  and 
finding  what  an  enormous  multitude  of  times  it  must  strike 
with  the  most  perfect  precision,  punctuality,  and  persever- 
ance in  the  year,  ceaseless,  always  at  its  duty, — it  was  so 
distressed  and  terrified  with  the  responsibility,  that  it 
suddenly  stopped  ;  nor  could  the  clock  be  set  in  motion 
again,  till  the  pendulum  was  reminded  that  though  in  a 
year's  time  it  would  of  course  perform  so  many  vibrations, 
if  faithful,  yet  it  was  never  called  to  perform  but  just  so 
many  in  a  minute,  and  only  one  in  each  present  second, 
and  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  future,  but  to  take 
care  of  the  present.  Take  care  of  the  minutes,  and  the 
hours  will  take  care  of  themselves.  And  just  so,  take  care 
of  the  days  in  Christ's  service,  day  by  day,  in  the  minute 
duties  of  following  Christ,  and  the  months  and  years  will 
take  care  of  themselves.  Christ  will  keep  the  clock  in 
motion  to-morrow,  if  the  pendulum  obeys  him  to-day. 
Each  day  we  are  to  come  to  him  for  each  day's  grace. 

Sometimes  a  soul  with  a  trembling  hope  that  it  has  been 
born  again  is  so  pressed  with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of 
being  a  true  Christian,  and  of  following  Christ  faithfully, 
and  perhaps  so  tempted  of  Satan  with  unbelief,  and  need- 
less causes  of  fright,  that  it  shrinks  back  from  the  duty  of 
a  public  profession  of  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  thus  gives 
the  adversary  of  the  soul  a  great  advantage.  Instead  of 
looking  to  this  present  step  of  duty,  as  a  step  that  comes 
right  in  the  highway  of  following  Christ,  a  step  included 
in  the  present  business  of  taking  up  the  cross  daily  and 

13 


290  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

following  him,  such  persons  are  sometimes  looking  to  the 
great  things  that  are  to  be  expected  of  them,  or  that  will 
be  duty  for  them,  in  after  life,  and  so  they  halt,  hesitate, 
tremble,  and  stop  in  confusion.  } 

Sometimes  they  never  get  over  this  difficulty  ;  giving 
way  to  their  fears  at  first,  fear  instead  of  faith  becomes 
the  habit  of  the  mind,  and  they  never  enjoy  Christ,  nor  ever 
conquer  sin,  because  they  never  go  forth  trustingly  to  fol- 
low Christ,  taking  up  his  cross  daily,  and  casting  all  their 
care  on  him  for  time  to  come.  They  never  go  forth  to 
him  without  the  camp,  bearing  his  reproach.  They  look 
at  the  future  with  fear  and  unbelief,  instead  of  looking 
simply  at  the  present,  with  humble,  trustful  obedience,  con- 
cerning themselves  with  present  duty.  If  they  would  take 
the  present  steps  of  duty  that  are  plain,  others  would  be 
plain  in  succession,  and  easy  also,  as  fast  as  they  come  up 
to  them.  But  it  is  foolish,  wrong,  and  unbelieving,  to 
burden  the  present  with  more  than  belongs  to  the  present. 
Christ  does  not  say,  Let  a  man  take  up  the  crosses  of  all 
the  days  in  the  next  year,  and  follow  me,  but  his  daily 
cross,  the  cross  of  each  day,  as  it  comes.  If  a  man  had  a 
long  journey  before  him,  and  a  burden  to  carry  in  the  first 
stage,  and  another  burden  in  the  second  stage,  and  another 
in  the  third,  and  so  on,  and  he  should  send  forward,  and 
have  the  burden  belonging  to  the  second  or  third  stage  in 
his  pilgrimage  brought  back  to  be  taken  up  at  the  first 
stage,  he  would  never  go  on,  never  even  set  out.  Just  so 
it  is  with  all  our  duties,  and  all  our  undertakings. 

Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,  the  labor 
thereof,  and  the  grace  thereof.  We  are  permitted,  in 
general,  to  see  only  the  beginning ;  if  we  saw  the  whole, 
before  habits  of  great  faith,  prayer,  and  energy  were 
formed  in  us  by  God's  gradual  grace,  and  by  gradually 
coping  with  difficulties  as  they  come  up,  we  should  be 
frightened,  and  deterred  from  duty.  If  a  little  child  could 
count  the  multitude  of  steps  it  would  have  to  take  in  grow- 
ing up  to  manhood,  it  would  stop  learning  to  walk.  If  a 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  291 

boy  at  school  could  calculate  the  multitude  of  steps  he 
would  have  to  take,  the  multitude  of  distinct  efforts  of 
attention  and  will'  it  would  cost  him  to  master  the  science 
of  Algebra,  or  the  Greek  language,  he  would  throw  down 
his  mathematics  and  his  dictionary  in  despair.  If  a  young 
minister  of  the  gospel  were  told  at  his  ordination  that  in 
such  a  number  of  years,  living  so  long,  he  would  have  to 
prepare  say  one  thousand  sermons,  and  were  to  get  his 
mind  morbidly  fixed  upon  that,  he  would  stop  at  once.  If 
the  children  of  Israel  had  been  told,  when  they  undertook 
to  go  out  of  Egypt  for  Canaan,  that  they  would  have  to 
wander  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  they  would  not 
have  stirred  a  step.  But  God  makes  everything  gradual 
to  us,  and  by  present  faith,  everything  easy,  everything 
leading  on  gently  and  without  violence  to  the  next  thing, 
the  next  duty  ;  like  a  running  stream  and  not  a  rough  sea ; 
like  the  changes  of  the  seasons,  imperceptible  in  their 
progress  from  day  to  day,  yet  perfect  and  complete ; 
impossible  to  bear,  if  they  come  suddenly,  but  healthful 
and  delightful  in  their  quiet  approaches,  and  gliding 
gradually  into  one  another.  So  duties  grow  out  of  duties, 
gradually  and  gently,  and  Christian  graces  and  self-denials 
glide  into  one  another  like  the  braids  of  a  silken  chain  ; 
and  by  this  chain  of  love  and  duty  the  soul  is  bound  about, 
and  strengthened,  in  and  for  Christ.  Only  trust  in  Christ, 
and  follow  him. 

As  it  is  with  duty,  so  it  is  with  light.  It  does  not  come 
all  at  once,  but  gradually.  But  Christ's  rule  is,  He  that 
followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the 
light  of  life.  And  the  path  of  the  just,  the  just  who  live 
by  faith,  is  as  the  shining  light,  which  shineth  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day.  But  you  cannot  expect  all 
your  light  now  ;  enough,  if  you  have  a  little  of  it ;  enough, 
if  you  have  sufficient  to  see  to-day's  duties,  to-day's  path. 
You  are  not  to  be  anxious  either  about  light  or  comfort  for 
the  future,  but  anxious  only  to  follow  Christ  truly  for  this 
day.  Follow  Christ,  and  comfort  will  follow  you  ;  but  if 


292  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

you  follow  comfort  chiefly,  you  will  lose  sight  both  of 
comfort  and  of  Christ. 

The  cross  daily,  and  follow  me.  Daily  duties  are  not 
only  to  be  performed,  but  performed  daily  in  obedience  to 
Christ,  with  a  supreme  regard  to  him,  under  the  power  of 
his  love.  Everything  must  be  done  for  Christ,  done  in 
following  him ;  that  is  the  main  point.  Taking  the  cross 
daily  would  be  no  piety  at  all,  except  in  following  Christ. 
If  you  separate  the  cross  from  Christ  and  his  love,  and  put 
it  in  any  other  service,  you  make  another  religion  than 
that  of  Christianity.  The  end  and  right  way  of  all  duties, 
all  self-denials,  all  crosses,  is  simply,  Follow  me.  Follow 
Christ  daily.  Walk  as  he  walked,  daily.  Seek  the  things 
which  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of 
God,  daily.  Let  the  same  mind  be  in  you  which  was  also 
in  Christ,  daily.  Walk  in  love,  as  he  also  hath  loved  us, 
daily.  It  is  manifest  that  this  precept  runs  into  the 
minutest  actions  and  feelings  of  life,  daily  life,  domestic 
life,  social  life,  business  life,  public  life,  private  life.  Let 
your  daily  deportment,  conversation,  temper,  and  disposi- 
tion of  mind,  habitudes  of  existence,  be  a  copy  of  the 
same  sweet  and  lovely  holiness,  which  shone  in  the  daily 
life  of  Christ.  Each  day  must  have  the  Christian  graces 
woven  into  it,  running  through  it,  the  threads  of  the  great 
pattern  continued,  the  colors  visible,  the  figures  growing ; 
precept  upon  precept,  line  upon  line  coming  out,  here  a 
little,  and  there  a  little.  See,  saith  he,  that  thou  make  all 
things  according  to  the  pattern  showed  thee  in  the  Mount. 

We  are  here  reminded  of  the  manufacture  of  the  rich 
Gobelin  Tapestry.  When  they  undertake  a  piece,  they 
have  the  subject,  the  original  figure,  from  the  hand  of  a 
great  master,  constantly  before  them,  and  every  thread, 
every  shade  of  color,  is  put  in  with  reference  to  that,  and 
so  the  work  goes  on  patiently,  little  by  little,  day  by  day, 
till  it  is  finished.  But  if  they  did  not  daily  study  the 
original  picture,  having  it  constantly  before  them,  and 
doing  everything  with  reference  to  that,  they  would  at 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  293 

once  go  astray.  They  might  produce  a  picture  of  some 
sort,  but  it  would  not  be  the  copy  or  resemblance  of  the 
great  picture  given  them  for  their  pattern.  So  with  the 
character  of  Christ,  which  we  are  to  imitate  and  follow. 
Everything  in  us  daily  must  grow  up  into  him,  who  is  the 
Head.  Everything  must  be  done  with  reference  to  him  ; 
nor  is  there  anything  so  small  or  unimportant,  which  may 
not  bear  its  proportionate  shade  of  sweet  coloring  drawn 
from  him.  The  daily  conquests  of  our  temper,  the  daily 
patience,  meekness,  charity  of  spirit  and  of  action,  the 
daily  gentlenesses,  kindnesses,  forbearances,  forgivenesses 
of  life,  the  daily  experiments  and  practices  of  faith,  the 
daily  services  of  grace  in  prayer,  the  daily  lookings  to 
Christ,  like  the  flower  that  follows  the  sun,  the  daily  sub- 
missions of  everything  to  him,  the  daily  effort  to  find  him, 
and  to  grow  in  his  knowledge  and  love,  the  daily  feeding 
on  a  portion  of  his  Word,  the  daily  endeavor  to  do  good  as 
we  have  opportunity,  winning  souls  to  Christ,  the  daily 
attention  to  our  business  under  Christ's  love,  the  daily 
subduing  and  denial  of  self,  in  bringing  everything  to  him, 
for  him  and  not  self  to  stamp  and  seal  it  as  his  own,  imbu- 
ing it  with  his  Spirit,  the  daily  rejoicing  in  his  goodness, 
and  thanksgiving  for  his  mercy  ; — all  these  things  daily, 
and  all  these  things  each  day  for  itself,  and  not  put  off  to 
the  morrow,  nor  the  morrow  thrown  upon  to-day.  Our 
work  for  Christ  and  our  walk  with  him  are  to  be  continued 
daily.  Each  day  we  do  not  know  that  we  shall  have  ano- 
ther morrow,  do  not  know  but  that  this  may  be  the  last 
of  our  sweet  privilege  of  walking  with  Christ,  and  working 
for  him.  It  is  perhaps  but  a  little  that  we  can  do  in  a 
day,  but  a  little  every  day  will  accomplish  much  in  a  year, 
and  we  are  not  required  to  crowd  a  year  into  a  day,  but 
to  take  the  days,  as  they  come,  and  by  giving  each  one  to 
Christ,  to  string  them  all,  as  it  were,  in  one  thread  of  pre- 
cious pearls  for  him.  By  arid  by  you  will  find  them  in 
your  own  coronet  of  life. 

We  have  said  that  if  we  separate  the  cross  from  Christ 


294  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  his  love,  and  put  it  in  any  other  service,  we  make 
another  religion  than  that  of  Christianity.  This  may  be 
done  in  various  ways,  such  as  those  designated  by  the 
Apostle  under  the  names  of  will-WJorship,  and  voluntary 
humiliations  and  mortifications,  and  the  -Worshipping  of 
saints  and  angels  as  the  way  into  heaven,  or  the  purchase 
thereof.  Some  men  put  the  mere  image  of  the  cross  in 
the  place  of  him  who  suffered  for  our  sins  upon  it ;  and 
some  put  devotion  to  the  cross  as  a  form,  in  place  of  the 
love  of  Christ  constraining  us.  Some  misguided  souls 
deny  themselves  for  the  Virgin,  some  for  the  grandeur  of 
St.  Peter,  some  to  get  an  interest  in  the  prayers  of  some 
patron  saint,  and  some  to  build,  in  one  mode  and  another, 
a  stairway  of  merit  to  climb  towards  heaven.  But  per- 
haps the  greatest  example  of  false  self-denial  the  world 
ever  saw  is  that  of  the  Jesuits,  who  have  sometimes  made 
a  wonderful  use  of  the  principle  of  self-abnegation  under 
the  cloak  of  religion,  for  earthly  purposes.  In  this  order, 
and  in  the  Romanism  from  which  it  issued,  we  can  show 
the  most  complete  sacrifice  of  self  to  an  earthly  master, 
producing  miracles  of  morality,  self-denial,  alms-giving, 
zeal,  martyrdom,  bodies  to  be  burned.  Their  rule  is,  not, 
Follow  Christ,  but,  Follow  your  superior,  as  a  dead  body, 
governed  by  him,  in  obedience,  not  to  be  questioned,  to 
him.  Be  as  a  dead  body,  in  respect  to  any  will  of  your 
own.  Ask  no  questions,  but  obey.  They  carried  this 
principle  out  so  fully,  linking  it  to  the  throne  of  Rome, 
and  binding  the  wills  of  many  into  one  iron  will  for  the 
sway  of  that  throne,  that  they  shook  the  world  by  it. 

The  same  energy  carried  to  Christ,  the  same  training  of 
submission  to  him,  would  have  been  salvation  to  every  one 
of  them  ;  but  carried  to  any  other  than  him,  it  was  death. 
The  sacrifice  of  their  own  will  for  any  other  than  Christ, 
and  out  of  any  motive  but  love  and  duty  to  him,  was  the 
destruction  of  their  being  for  ever.  Their  trust  was  in 
a  human  Saviour.  They  applied  to  human  beings  and  a 
human  system  that  supreme  consercation  of  the  will  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  295 

confidence  of  the  soul,  which  God  claims  exclusively  and 
solely  for  himself,  and  which  for  another  to  arrogate  is 
blasphemy.  Cursed  be  the  man  who  trusteth  in  man,  and 
maketh  flesh  his  arm,  and  whose  heart  departeth  from  the 
Lord.  For  a  man  to  divest  himself  of  his  own  moral 
responsibility,  by  throwing  it  on  a  fallen  creature,  and  not 
trusting  it  with  God,  is  impiety  and  idolatry.  It  renders 
true  piety  impossible,  and  sin  inevitable.  Hence  the  con- 
fidence of  misguided  souls  in  giving  up  the  matter  of  their 
salvation  to  be  taken  care  of  by  priests,  as  paid  spiritual 
lawyers  in  the  chancery  of  heaven,  is  eternal  ruin.  The 
disposition  to  do  this,  in  one  way  and  another,  is  profound 
in  the  human  mind ;  and  hence  the  reiteration  in  God's 
Word,  under  so  many  forms,  of  the  truth,  that  besides 
Christ  alone  there  is  no  Saviour. 

Now  whether  the  rule  be  that  of  the  Jesuits,  or  whether 
it  be  put  in  the  more  general  form,  Follow  the  church  ; — 
if  that  be  the  ultimate  resort,  standard,  and  authority,  it 
cuts  the  soul  off  effectually  from  God,  introduces  anotL-.-r 
Saviour  than  Christ,  and  is,  in  fact,  another  gospel.  It 
makes  no  difference  whether  the  soul  trust  in  a  system  or 
an  individual,  or  whether  its  supreme  allegiance  be  bound 
to  a  system  or  an  individual  ;  if  the  system  or  the  indivi- 
dual occupies  the  place  of  Christ,  arrogates  the  authority 
of  Christ,  and  stands  between  the  soul  and  Christ,  the  soul 
is  destroyed  by  it.  The  Jesuits  say,  Follow  your  superior. 
Deny  thyself,  take  the  cross,  and  follow  and  sustain  your 
order  and  its  laws.  Are  the  Jesuits  good  men  for  this  ? 
They  have  sometimes  sacrificed  everything  in  a  blind 
obedience  ;  but  when  they  have  gone  into  desert  regions, 
and  effectually  abnegated  self  for  their  order  and  for  the 
Romish  Church,  is  that  religion,  or  any  part  of  it  ?  It  is 
self-denial,  indeed,  but  not  being  for  Christ,  is  robbery  of 
God,  and  an  exaltation  of  man  and  machinery  into  the 
place  of  the  Saviour.  It  is  self-denial,  indeed,  but  self- 
denial  by  itself  is  not  piety.  A  man  may  deny  himself, 
and  take  the  cross,  but  if  he  does  not  follow  Christ,  he 


296  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

might  just  as  well  have  indulged  himself ;  indeed  his  self- 
denial  without  Christ  is  but  another  form  of  self-indulgence. 
This  human  system  of  self-denial  makes  a  slave,  a  stone, 
a  dead  body ;  but  Christ  makes  a  freeman.  This  human 
system  may  be,  in  one  sense,  the  annihilation  of  self-will, 
but  Christ's  system,  Christ's  love,  is  the  turning  of  the  will 
into  his  service,  the  imbuing  of  it  with  his  love,  the  free- 
ing it  from  self,  evil  self,  and  making  it  to  choose  freely,  in 
love,  Christ's  service.  There  is  no  such  rule  in  Christian- 
ity, nor  anything  like  it,  as  this  Jesuitical  and  Romish 
principle,  which  indeed  is  the  most  subtle  -artifice  that 
Satan  ever  invented  to  bind  souls  to  himself.  For,  what- 
ever a  man  does  after  such  self-abnegation,  after  such 
renunciation  of  his  own  will,  after  such  a  quittance  of  his 
own  responsibility,  he  justifies,  and  quiets  himself,  and 
blinds  his  conscience,  though  it  were  murder,  theft,  intrigue, 
false  witness,  all  the  malice  of  hell  in  operation.  It  is 
turning  the  truth  into  a  lie,  and  doing  evil  that  good  may 
come;  whose  damnation  is  just.  It  is  tearing  the  soul 
from  its  allegiance  to  God,  and  setting  up  another  God, 
another  conscience,  so  that  he,  as  God,  setteth  himself  in 
the  Temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  a  God. 

For  an  honest  and  humble  mind,  taking  the  Word  of 
God  for  its  guide,  and  not  human  rule  or  tradition,  there 
is  no  danger  of  mistaking  any  such  system  for  God's 
system.  Our  Lord  Jesus  has  made  supreme,  undivided, 
single,  entire  consecration  to  himself,  and  himself  alone, 
so  clearly  our  whole  duty,  and  himself  so  indisputably  our 
sole  Saviour  and  Guide,  that  there  is  no  possibility  of 
mistake.  Come  unto  me,  follow  me,  abide  in  me.  Every- 
thing is  personal,  single  ;  me,  me,  me.  Not,  come  to  the 
church,  follow  the  church,  abide  in  the  church  ;  nor,  come 
to  a  system,  follow  a  system,  abide  in  a  'system,  maintain 
the  rules  of  a  system ;  nor  even,  follow  the  cross,  come  to 
the  cross,  abide  in  the  cross  ; — but,  Come  to  me,  follow  me, 
abide  in  me.  Take  up  the  cross  daily,  and  follow  me. 
Everything  begins  with  this,  Come  to  me,  and  ends  with 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  297 

this,  Follow  me.  Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out.  He  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.  He  that  believeth 
in  me  shall  never  perish,  but  shall  have  everlasting  life. 
He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life.  If  any 
man  serve  me,  let  him  follow  me ;  and  where  I  am,  there 
shall  also  my  servant  be ;  if  any  man  serve  me,  him  will 
my  Father  honor.  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it ; 
and  he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world  for  my  sake,  shall 
keep  it  unto  life  eternal.  Ye  will  not  come  to  me,  that  ye 
might  have  life.  But  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come. 
And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
Water  of  Life  freely.  The  book  of  life  itself  is  the 
LAMB'S  book  of  life  ;  the  souls  written  in  it  are  Christ's 
own  souls  ;  the  love  that  is  their  principle  of  life  is  Christ's 
own  love.  He  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and 
the  end,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  for  ever. 

Now  one  would  think  that  there  is  no  mind  with  any 
right  view  whatever  of  spiritual  things,  but  must  be 
charmed  with  the  simplicity  and  delightfulness  of  Christi- 
anity, as  being  such  a  manifestation  of  Christ  all  and  in 
all.  All  things  are  in  and  of  and  for  and  through  and  to 
him,  in  order  that  no  flesh  may  glory  in  his  presence, 
nothing  of  man's  pride  or  contrivance  be  exalted,  but  that 
he  that  glorieth  might  glory  in  the  Lord.  A  Pagan  philo- 
sopher is  said  once  to  have  answered  to  the  question, 
What  is  God  doing  ?  "  He  is  putting  down  the  proud  and 
exalting  the  humble  ;"  a  wonderful  answer  for  a  Pagan, 
and  which  might  make  us  think  that  much  more  than  a 
Pagan  had  to  do  with  it.  For  this  is  the  very  beauty  and 
excellence  of  the  gospel,  that  it  puts  down  self  and  pride, 
and  makes  men  rich  by  making  them  humble.  And  it 
makes  them  humble  only  by  bringing  them  to  Christ,  rich 
only  in  him,  peaceful  only  in  him,  but  in  him  gives  them 

13* 


298  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE. 

the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding,  and  a 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

How  blessed  to  have  a  religion  in  which  all  the  variety 
of  duty  can  be  brought  to  one  single, jsimple  thing,  Follow 
Christ !  No  rent-roll  of  ceremonies,  penances,  and  tra- 
ditions of  men  is  presented  ;  but  one  single,  simple  duty, 
Follow  Christ.  And  what  a  weight  of  motive  behind  this 
duty,  to  press  the  soul  onward  into  it,  and  what  an  opening 
of  heaven,  and  beckoning  of  God,  angels  and  saints,  the 
whole  encompassing  cloud  of  witnesses,  to  animate  and 
encourage  the  soul  in  steadfast  faithfulness,  even  to  the 
end  !  Lost  out  of  Christ,  saved  only  in  him  !  The  whole 
business  of  our  existence  is  comprehended  in  this  one 
thing,  to  find  Christ.  It  were  infinitely  better  not  to  have 
been,  than  to  be  without  Christ.  We  make  existence 
itself  instead  of  a  blessing,  an  eternal  curse  without  Christ. 
We  are  hastening,  beneath  the  burden  of  sin,  in  the  death 
of  trespasses  and  sins,  with  nothing  but  the  elements  of 
retribution  within  us,  and  the  principles  of  retribution  as 
laws  upon  us,  without  Christ,  to  the  fires  of  the  great  day, 

That  Day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day, 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
What  power  shall  be  the  sinner's  stay ! 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Faith,  the  element  of  power  in  Prayer. — Imaginary  Prayer. — Dreaming  of 
flying. — Wandering  thoughts  in  Prayer. — The  incalculable  importance  of 
right  habits,  as  fixtures  of  the  soul  in  Prayer. 

Now  this  daily  following  of  Christ,  this  daily  life  of  faith, 
cannot  be  a  reality,  cannot  exist  at  all,  without  a  daily 
habit  of  secret  prayer.  Faith  is  the  element  of  prayer, 
definite  and  constant.  Faith  in  God's  Word,  in  God's 
holiness,  justice,  mercy ;  in  the  law  and  the  gospel ;  in  sin, 
death,  the  judgment,  eternity,  heaven,  hell ;  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  in  his  righteousness,  and  in  his  all  suffi- 
ciency and  mercy  to  the  chief  of  sinners  ;  faith  as  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen ;  faith  as  the  realization  to  the  soul  both  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  of  his  love,  and  of  those  eternal 
things  which  he  has  unveiled  and  made  so  definite,  to  move 
the  soul ;  and  faith  in  Christ,  as  an  humble,  trusting,  sub- 
missive reliance  of  the  soul,  on  him ;  faith,  in  all  these 
directions,  in  all  these  forms,  is  the  grand  element  of 
power  in  prayer.  Faith  in  the  burden  of  sin  upon  a  man's 
own  soul,  as  God  has  described  it  in  his  Word,  will  give  a 
man  power  in  prayer ;  faith  in  self,  as  revealed  of  God, 
and  in  God  as  made  known  in  Christ,  will  give  a  man 
power  in  prayer ;  faith  in  sin  and  in  the  penalty,  producing 
an  agonized  conscience,  will  give  a  man  power  in  prayer ; 
faith  in  the  promises  of  God,  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ, 
faith  in  Jesus  as  a  Saviour,  will  give  a  man  power  in 


300  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

prayer.  Faith  in  the  value  of  the  soul,  and  in  its  eternal 
ruin  out  of  Christ,  and  in  the  lost  condition  of  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness,  will  give  a  man  power  in  prayer. 
And  in  fine,  it  is  faith  in  the  Lord  )Jesus  as  a  personal 
Saviour,  faith  in  the  Cross  of  Christ,  the  sufferings,  death, 
and  love  of  Christ,  and  in  all  the  truths  that  cluster  around 
that  amazing  transaction  and  depend  upon  it,  the  truths 
that  like  Christ  himself,  and  in  Christ  himself,  are  lifted  up 
upon  the  Cross  to  the  view  of  all  the  universe,  and  for  all 
men  to  be  drawn  unto  them  in  that  position  ;  it  is  this 
faith,  and  only  this,  that  can  constitute  the  essence  and 
the  life  of  prayer,  that  can  give  power  in  prayer,  that  can 
quicken  and  sustain  in  the  soul  the  element  of  prayer,  that 
can  feed  the  flame  of  prayer.  It  is  this,  and  only  this,  that 
ever  did,  can,  or  will,  form  in  the  soul  the  sacred,  ceaseless 
HABIT  of  prayer,  and  by  the  instrumentality  of  prayer, 
through  the  grace  of  the  Divine  Regenerating  Spirit,  make 
the  life  of  the  soul  to  be  a  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

Now  without  anything,  in  the  reality,  of  this  element 
of  Faith,  any  experience  of  its  power  as  the  element  of 
prayer,  its  wings  uplifting  the  soul  as  angels'  in  audience 
with  the  Deity,  there  is  in  many  a  man's  mind,  at  times, 
the  imagination  that  he  prays.  And  indeed,  it  is  quite 
common  to  hear  from  a  man  who  does  not  by  any  means 
seek  to  follow  Christ  daily,  language  something  like  the 
following,  when  the  subject  of  personal  religion  is  urged 
upon  the  individual's  notice.  "  I  think  I  do  pray.  I  have 
not,  indeed,  joined  the  Church,  and  my  form  of  prayer  may 
not  be  just  in  accordance  with  yours,  but  I  think  upon 
God  and  religious  things,  and  I  am  sure  that  God  is  every- 
where, and  that  we  are  commanded  to  pray  always  ;  and 
when  a  man's  heart  goes  up  to  God  anywhere,  that  is 
prayer,  and  if  a  man  is  honestly  endeavoring  to  perform 
his  duty  daily,  that  is  prayer,  and  the  best  kind  of  prayer." 
Now,  dear  friend,  you  must  allow  us  to  correct  a  step  or 
two  in  your  argument ;  for  it  is  a  strain  of  loose  and  care- 
less thinking  which  we  may  often  hear  expressed,  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  301 

constitutes  a  way  that  some  men  have  of  excusing  even 
to  their  own  consciences  their  entire  neglect  of  everything 
like  real  prayer.  The  endeavor  to  perform  one's  duty 
daily  before  God  and  to  follow  Christ  daily,  is  the  fruit  of 
prayer,  and  prayer  itself  is  a  main  part  of  such  following 
of  Christ ;  but  the  endeavor  to  arrange  one's  external  life 
properly  is  not  itself  prayer,  and  never  was,  and  never 
will  be.  Neither,  when  a  man's  heart  seems  going  up  to 
God  everywhere,  is  it  certain  that  that  is  prayer  ;  for  it  may 
be  a  mere  intellectual  aspiration  after  God,  accompanied 
by  the  sentimental  aspirations  of  a  heart  tastefully  educated ; 
just  such  as  the  feeling  with  which  a  refined  heart  and 
mind  might  read  the  Poet  Thomson's  Hymn  on  the 
Seasons,  and  admire  its  devout  ascriptions  to  the  God  of 
the  rolling  year,  without  one  emotion  of  true  piety,  or 
aspiration  of  true  prayer  in  the  soul. 

Neither  does  mere  thinking  upon  God  and  religious 
things  constitute  prayer ;  by  no  means.  Meditation  is  not 
prayer,  though  it  may  be  a  preparation  for  it,  and  an 
accompaniment  of  it.  Thinking  pleasantly  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  religion  is  not  prayer.  Reading  the  Bible  is  not 
prayer.  Abstracting  the  soul  from  earthly  things  is  not 
prayer.  Silence  in  the  soul  is  not  prayer.  The  quietness 
of  the  will  is  not  prayer.  There  may  be  a  great  deal  of 
abstraction,  and  a  great  deal  of  silence,  and  a  great  deal 
of  quietness,  and  yet  not  prayer.  The  mere  going  out  of 
the  unclean  spirit  from  a  man  for  a  season,  to  look  about 
him  in  dry  places,  is  not  prayer.  There  is  often  such  a 
lull  in  the  winds  of  a  man's  evil  passions,  and  a  calm  upon 
the  troubled  sea,  when  he  might  pray,  if  he  would,  and 
pray  with  great  success  and  blessedness  ;  but  many  a  time 
he  thinks  the  calm  itself  is  a  wonderful  reformation,  a 
state  of  prayer,  or  as  good  as  that,  and  so  he  does  nothing, 
and  the  devil  and  the  winds  come  back,  with  more  power 
of  possession  than  before.  Just  as  if  a  calm  in  a  man's 
passions,  that  often  die  away  for  the  present  by  mere 
exhaustion,  or  that  by  reason  of  monotony  or  discontent 


302  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

seek  a  dry  place  for  a  season,  were  going  to  carry  a  man 
to  heaven,  were  the  work  of  religion  in  his  heart !  Oh, 
no  !  There  is  an  infinite  difference  between  a  temporary 
lull  of  passion  in  a  man's  soul,  and  t}ie  breathings  of  the 
Divine  Spirit ;  between  the  quietness  of  a  man's  will  for  a 
season,  and  the  setting  up  of  God's  will  in  the  heart ; 
between  silence  in  the  soul,  and  positive  communion  with 
God. 

The  state  and  atmosphere  of  prayer  is  a  far  higher 
region  than  this,  a  region  into  which  a  man  never  will 
rise  by  the  mere  thinking  of  God.  A  man  will  do  many 
things  in  the  state  and  atmosphere  of  earth,  and  undergo 
much  hard  work  in  various  ways,  by  which  he  may  endea- 
vor to  persuade  himself  that  he  is  a  child  of  God,  and  a 
man  of  prayer  ;  and  yet  may  never  spread  the  wings  of 
his  soul,  and  fly  up  into  that  higher  region  in  actual  com- 
munion with  God,  in  actual  prayer.  Aye,  the  leaden 
atmosphere  of  earth  weighs  down  those  wings,  and  the 
long  habits  of  spiritual  indolence,  and  self-indulgence,  and 
religious  procrastination,  are  wound  like  cords  round  about 
those  wings,  so  that  a  man  will  not  spread  them,  and  self- 
love  with  self-deception  glues  them  to  a  man's  earthly 
shoulders,  so  that  he  walks  about  in  sin,  in  neglect  of  God, 
in  destitution  of  all  faith  and  all  communion  with  heaven, 
and  only  dreams  that  he  is  flying.  Who  has  not  had  such 
experiences  in  the  night-visions,  when  he  has  gone  career- 
ing in  the  air  like  a  swift  eagle,  and  then  also  perhaps  has 
dropped  like  a  stone  to  the  earth,  not  able  to  lift  one  foot 
above  another !  This  dreaming  of  flying  is  something 
like  many  persons  dreaming  of  prayer. 

But  this  flying  in  one's  dreams  is  not  the  patient  walking 
after  Christ  daily.  Prayer  is  a  definite  thing.  It  is  the 
daily  expression  of  our  wants,  the  making  known  of  our 
wants  to  our  Father  in  Heaven,  and  the  earnest,  humble 
seeking  for  a  supply  of  them.  Prayer  is  the  absolute 
necessity  of  a  sin-sick,  dying,  ruined  soul,  casting  itself  on 
the  Almighty  Redeemer  for  mercy.  Prayer  is  the  fervor 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  303 

of  a  soul  wrestling  for  an  eternal  blessing.  Mere  silence 
in  the  soul  is  not  prayer.  There  would  be  error  in  those 
lines  of  the  Poet : — 

Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire, 
Uttered  or  unexpressed ; 

were  it  not  that  the  whole  hymn  is  composed  on  the 
supposition  of  a  Christian  soul  maintaining  its  special, 
particular  seasons  of  prayer  to  God  daily,  with  the  expres- 
sion of  its  wants  and  desires,  as  definite  as  it  can  make 
them.  Without  such  a  habit,  formed  and  maintained 
daily  in  the  soul,  as  a  fixture  of  the  daily  life,  there  will  be 
no  such  thing  as  unexpressed  desires  after  God.  There 
will  be  no  such  thing  as  a  spirit  of  prayer,  there  never  is, 
without  special,  daily  seasons  of  prayer.  Prayer  is  the 
motion  of  a  hidden  fire,  that  burns  within  the  breast ;  it 
is  the  motion  of  that  fire  ascending  up  to  God,  the  expres- 
sion of  it.  There  must  be  words,  and  there  must  be  daily 
seasons  to  express  them,  and  then  the  fire  will  keep  burning, 
even  in  the  interval  of  time  when  the  words  are  not 
uttered.  Take  with  you  words,  says  the  Prophet,  and 
go  to  God.  After  this  manner  pray  ye.  Thou,  when  thou 
prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  pray  to  thy  Father 
which  is  in  secret.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread. 
Definite  desires,  definite  petitions,  definite  seasons  sacredly 
maintained,  constitute  the  life  of  prayer. 

Some  imaginary  general  believers,  amidst  their  neglect 
and  disregard  of  the  particulars  of  Christianity,  may  possibly 
say,  I  am  praying  all  the  time ;  I  can  pray  as  well  with  my 
head  upon  my  pillow,  or  walking  down  Broadway,  or  in  the 
Strand,  as  in  the  most  secret  retirement ;  which  is  a  fool's 
thought,  and  no  better  than  dreaming  of  flying ;  and  indeed, 
if  that  be  all  a  man's  praying,  he  is  most  certainly  walking 
down  Broadway.  You  may  sometimes  hear  it  said  of 
others,  who  have  died  at  the  close  of  what  is  called  a  moral 
life,  although  they  have  never  professed  or  perhaps  imagined 


304  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

any  particular  attachment  to  Christ  in  that  life,  or  any 
faith  in  his  atoning  blood,  that  the  life  of  such  an  one  was 
prayer.  It  is  a  wild,  unbelieving  dream  and  delusion. 
Before  any  man  can  begin  to  have  arty  such  thing  true  in 
any  measure  whatever,  he  must  have  formed  the  secret 
habit  daily  of  prayer  at  definite  seasons,  in  definite  words, 
in  definite  desires  that  themselves  produce  the  words.  In 
forming  that  habit,  every  man  will  meet  with  temptations 
and  difficulties.  Wandering  thoughts  will  have  to  be 
restrained.  Impatience,  weariness,  coldness,  unbelief, 
interruptions,  neglects,  heartlessness,  will  work  fearfully 
upon  the  soul,  will  strive  to  eat  out  the  heart  of  a  man's 
piety  in  prayer,  will  crowd  upon  him  to  jostle  him  away 
from  the  throne  of  grace ;  but  he  must  press  on  through 
evil  report  and  good  report,  or  the  habit  of  prayer  will 
never  be  formed,  and  the  spirit  of  prayer  will  never  abide 
in  the  soul. 

It  is  for  want  of  an  exceedingly  zealous  attentiveness 
to  these  things,  and  watchfulness  over  them,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  strong,  deep  habit  of  following  Christ  daily  in 
prayer,  that  so  many  Christians  lose  all  the  enjoyment  and 
beauty  of  a  life  of  faith,  if  they  do  not  take  up  with  a 
hope  of  heaven  utterly  delusive.  The  heart  wanders  from 
God  inevitably,  if  it  do  not  abide  in  Christ  daily  in 
earnest  prayer.  And  when  these  heart-wanderings  have 
become  a  habit,  they  then  become  the  heart's  whole  life. 
The  forms  of  religion,  of  church  and  household  piety, 
may  be  maintained  awhile,  for  the  profession  of  a  Chris- 
tian may  continue  to  bind  him  to  those  performances,  even 
when  the  heart  is  gone,  but  they  become  mere  forms. 
Their  maintenance  is  heartless,  and  without  joy.  The 
soul  does  not  meet  God  in  his  sanctuary,  nor  at  the  family- 
altar,  nor  in  secret  prayer.  These  duties  are  without  zest, 
without  delight,  without  unction.  The  phrases  of  piety 
may  be  repeated,  and  they  may  be  the  same  expressions 
which  once  flowed  from  the  heart,  grew  out  of  God's 
Spirit  in  the  heart,  and  were  full  of  heart- warmth  and  life ; 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  305 

but  now  the  lips  repeat  them,  while  there  is  no  experience 
of  their  meaning,  no  corresponding  sense  of  them  in  the 
soul.  They  are  like  a  collection  of  wax  figures  in  the 
place  of  living  beings.  The  use  of  such  expressions  does 
not  recall  the  experience  indicated  by  them,  nor  restore 
the  soul  to  a  living  knowledge  of  their  realities ;  no  more 
than  a  man  can,  by  sitting  in  the  arm-chair  of  a  dear 
departed  friend,  call  back  the  lost  one  into  life ;  no  more 
than  a  man  could,  by  kneeling  at  the  tomb  of  a  dead  saint, 
be  animated  by  his  living  fervor.  The  phrases  of  piety, 
in  such  a  case,  are  as  a  dead  language,  or  as  the  exponents 
of  a  science  not  understood,  or  as  the  nomenclature  of 
philosophy  to  a  heathen.  The  duties  of  piety  likewise,  as 
well  as  the  expressions,  are  equally  a  mere  formalism,  per- 
haps they  become  an  absolute  hypocrisy. 

The  profession  of  a  Christian,  whose  heart  has  thus 
gone  out  of  his  piety,  or  whose  piety  he  has  let  go  out  of 
his  heart,  may  keep  him  appearing  as  a  Christian,  standing 
among  other  Christians  as  a  Christian,  a  long  time ;  just 
as  a  very  thick  bark  will  long  keep  a  rotten  tree  standing 
erect  amidst  other  trees,  in  the  forest.  And  this  thick 
rind  or  bark  of  the  forms  of  piety  may  keep  a  man  a 
great  while  from  the  discovery  of  his  inward  rottenness, 
when,  if  the  bark  had  dropped  off  just  in  proportion  as  the 
rottenness  came  on,  his  inward  state  would  have  stood  dis- 
closed both  to  himself  and  others.  Just  suppose  the  case 
of  a  man  accustomed  to  a  prayer-book  and  a  liturgy,  or 
to  any  set  expressions  of  piety,  having  his  tongue  suddenly 
palsied  at  every  phrase  which  his  heart  had  ceased  to 
understand  and  to  accompany  ;  or  suppose  that  instead  of 
the  expressions  of  pious  feeling,  when  his  heart  has  wan- 
dered away  from  God,  his  lips  should  utter  just  what  his 
heart  is  filled  with,  instead  of  his  accustomed  forms  of 
prayer.  Suppose  that  there  were  such  a  law  in  a  man's 
being,  that  his  inward  departures  from  God  should  be  fol- 
lowed by  an  external  inability  to  pronounce  the  words  of 
that  religious  experience,  which  he  has  suffered  to  decay. 


306  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

His  forms  of  piety  and  prayer  would  then,  instead  of 
serving  for  a  concealment,  be  the  judgment  and  conviction 
of  his  hollowness.  By  their  brokenness,  incoherence,  and 
chaos,  the  inward  departure  from  Gpd  would  be  measured 
and  manifested.  How  many  a  man  in  the  churcl^and  at 
the  family-altar  and  in  his  secret  retirement,  would  have 
the  shame  of  an  enforced  silence,  or  of  mutterings  in  an 
unknown  tongue,  or  of  the  repetitions  of  his  last  success- 
ful investments  in  business,  or  the  arithmetic  of  his  ledger, 
or  the  revolving  germ  of  a  new  speculation,  or  the  com- 
pass of  some  anticipated  pleasure.  Instead  of  the  words, 
Son  of  God  Most  High,  have  mercy  upon  us  !  there  might 
have  been  heard  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  the 
words,  Bonds  and  Mortgage,  good  security  !  And  instead 
of  the  contrite  petition,  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner ! 
the  sinful  man  might  himself  hear,  even  in  his  own  retire- 
ment, the  rapid,  unconscious  pursuit,  aloud,  of  his  soul's 
utter  worldliness,  in  insensibility  to  sin,  and  forgetfulness 
of  God  and  eternity.  And  such  an  enforced  utterance  of 
just  what  was  in  the  soul,  and  of  nothing  else,  would  be  a 
startling  discovery  of  the  man's  real  character,  which 
might,  in  many  cases,  save  a  soul  from  utter  perdition. 

In  this  light,  how  incalculably  important  in  a  man's 
being  are  his  habits  of  prayer !  With  what  ceaseless 
vigilance  should  they  be  watched  and  formed,  and  the  fire 
of  faith  and  love  never  be  permitted  to  steal  away  from 
them  !  As  fixtures  in  the  religious  character,  they  should 
be  set  right  at  first,  from  the  very  outset.  Let  every  man 
take  heed  how  he  buildeth.  In  the  building  up  of  spiritual 
character  it  is  very  much  as  it  is  in  building  houses.  A 
man  constructing  his  house  from  the  foundation  with  a 
view  to  the  best  improvements,  carries  it  up  all  the  way 
with  reference  to  them.  If  he  is  to  have  water  in  every 
room,  he  runs  his  grooves  for  the  pipes  accordingly,  when 
the  walls  are  in  building.  If  he  will  have  every  room  in 
the  house  heated  by  a  furnace,  he  begins  this  work  with 
the  foundations,  and  carries  it  up  from  story  to  story.  If 


CHRIST    IN    THE     LIFE.  307 

he  will  have  a  thorough  ventilation,  the  arrangements 
must  be  made  for  that  in  like  manner.  If  he  builds  a 
house  hastily,  carelessly,  without  any  regard  to  these  things, 
any  eye  to  them,  he  cannot  afterwards  introduce  them, 
without  a  labor  and  expense  almost  as  great  as  that  of 
the  original  structure  without  them. 

Just  so  it  is  with  a  man's  Christian  character.  He 
must  make  it  thorough  from  the  outset,  must  build  it  of  the 
best  materials,  the  best  habits,  in  the  best  manner.  It  will 
save  him  a  world  of  trouble  in  the  end.  It  will  accom- 
plish for  him  a  vast  amount  of  usefulness  and  of  happiness, 
which  otherwise  he  will  lose,  will  be  unfitted  for.  And  it 
will  save  him  a  vast  amount  of  damage.  For  if  he  does 
not  begin  right,  he  will  not  only  lose  a  great  many  good 
things,  but  he  will  introduce  a  great  many  questionable, 
awkward,  evil  things.  If  he  build  the  gold,  silver,  precious 
stones  of  heavenly  habits,  in,  upon,  and  for  Christ,  they 
will  last,  they  will  not  have  to  be  taken  down,  and  built 
over  again ;  they  will  stand  the  fires  of  temptation  here, 
and  of  judgment  hereafter.  But  if  he  build  wood,  hay, 
stubble,  the  stubble  t>f  loose,  or  self-indulgent,  or  injurious 
habits,  the  house  of  his  piety  is  liable  to  take  fire  at  any 
time  ;  every  storm  will  make  rents  in  it,  every  temptation 
will  break  it  through  ;  it  will  be  a  poor  miserable  tenement 
while  he  lives  in  it,  and  he  himself  will  be  saved  out  of  it 
only  so  as  by  fire,  only  by  having  all  the  wood,  hay,  and 
stubble  burned  up  ;  a  devouring  conflagration,  in  which  a 
man  may  think  himself  infinitely  happy,  if  his  own  soul 
escape  the  burning. 

A  man  should  remember,  from  the  beginning,  that  his 
habits  of  prayer  are  fixtures  ;  everything  depends  upon 
them.  Prayer  governs  everything  in  the  following  of  the 
soul  after  Christ.  If  Faith  governs  and  inspires  prayer, 
prayer  again  directs  the  life  of  Faith.  You  want  this 
habit  of  prayer  to  be  such  from  the  outset,  that  by  and  by, 
when  your  religious  character  is  found  to  be  quite  fixed, 
your  house  builded,  you  shall  not  have  occasion  to  wish 


308  GRACE    AND   TRUTH, 

that  you  could  take  it  all  down  again,  in  order  to  put  in 
new  fixtures  from  the  foundation.  You  want  the  chan- 
nels, the  habitual  channels,  of  your  aspirations  after  God, 
in  your  times  of  secret  intercourse  jvvith  Him,  to  be  worn 
so  deep  and  blessed,  that  the  energy,  the  thought,  the  feel- 
ing of  your  whole  being  will  concentrate  there,  will  pour 
on  in  a  tide  of  holy  rapture,  when  the  gate  is  opened,  that 
nothing  can  turn  or  stay.  You  want  habits  of  positive 
and  absolute  communion  with  God  ;  such  habits  in  prayer, 
that  the  time  which  you  do  take  for  that  set  action  shall  be 
all  saved,  all  used  in  prayer,  all  on  a  flame  in  the  lamp  of 
your  existence.  You  want  the  elements  which  you  carry 
to  the  work  of  intercourse  with  your  Father  in  Heaven  to 
burn  brightly,  not  feebly.  You  want  an  energy  in  prayer 
so  habitual,  and  so  habitually  springing  into  exercise,  when 
you  come  to  the  hour  of  retirement,  and  go  in  secret  to 
seek  your  God,  that  your  whole  attention  of  mind  and 
intensity  of  life  shall  have  employment  in  that  hour,  and 
shall  fill  it  up.  You  want  a  fixedness  of  habit,  and  a 
habit  of  fixedness,  in  your  heart  upon  God  and  celestial 
reality,  that  shall  bar  out  wandering  thoughts,  or  rather 
shall  take  them  captive,  and  turn  them  into  the  fuel  of  the 
heavenly  flame  rising  in  your  soul  to  heaven. 

There  is  almost  nothing  so  desirable  as  this.  For  want  of 
this  fixedness  of  the  heart  in  prayer,  a  great  many  hours  that 
seem  to  be  spent  in  prayer,  are  almost  wasted.  For  want 
of  this  habit,  rightly  formed,  cultivated,  and  strengthened 
from  the  outset,  it  cost  a  great  deal  of  time  to  do  the  work 
of  a  very  little  time  otherwise.  Let  this  habit  be  formed 
early  in  one's  religious  life,  and  let  that  religious  life  be 
formed  early  in  life,  and  then,  when  the  forming,  the  sug- 
gestive and  germinating  period  of  character  is  passed,  the 
controlling  channel  of  prayer  in  the  soul  will  be  found 
so  deep,  so  broad,  so  fixed,  that,  as  we  said,  the  energies 
of  the  being  will  concentrate  within  it,  and  the  work  of 
hours  and  days  of  loose  thought,  of  inattentive,  wander- 
ing thought,  or  of  indifferent  feeling,  shall  be  accomplished 


CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE.  309 

in  moments.  A  man  who  has  this  habit  of  solemn,  holy, 
affectionate  fixedness  of  the  soul  on  God  in  prayer,  will 
get  nearer  to  Him,  will  gain  more  strength,  more  grace,  a 
greater  supply  of  faith,  and  every  encouragement  and 
impulse  in  the  Divine  Life  (and  if  he  be  interceding  for 
others,  will  do  more  for  them)  in  five  minutes,  than  a  soul 
without  this  habit,  a  soul  of  wandering  thoughts  and  low 
affections,  in  as  many  hours.  There  is  no  possibility  of 
exaggerating  the  importance  of  this  fixedness  of  the  soul 
upon  God  in  prayer,  when  you  come  to  the  set  act  of 
prayer. 

And  to  this  end,  these  set  seasons  should  be  frequent, 
and  a  liberal  portion  of  time  should  be  given  to  them. 
They  should  not  be  less  in  number  than  King  David's ; 
evening,  and  morning,  and  at  noon,  will  I  pray  and  cry 
aloud  unto  Thee ;  and  they  should  not  be  less  in  fervor 
than  his ;  my  soul  followeth  hard  after  Thee ;  and  they 
should  not  be  less  in  time,  each  one  of  them,  than  to 
enable  the  soul  to  collect  its  whole  energies,  under  the 
impulse  of  Faith  and  Love,  to  be  poured  out  in  a  sweet 
season  of  communion  with  God  and  fellowship  with  the 
Redeemer.  What  faith  this  requires,  what  effort  it  takes, 
every  man  knows,  who  strives  daily  to  walk  closely  with 
God ;  but  also,  every  such  man  knows  from  deep  and 
thankful  experience,  how  blessed  are  the  results  of  such 
faith  and  effort,  such  holy  diligence,  sustained  by  the  grace 
of  God.  It  is  a  foretaste  of  heaven  on  earth,  and  is 
worth  every  effort,  cost  what  it  may,  thus  to  walk  daily 
with  God,  thus  daily  to  FOLLOW  CHRIST. 

Thy  mansion  is  the  Christian's  heart; 
O  Lord,  thy  dwelling-place  secure. 
Bid  the  unruly  throng  depart, 
And  leave  the  consecrated  door. 

Devoted  as  it  is  to  Thee, 
A  thievish  swarm  frequents  the  place ; 
They  steal  away  my  joys  from  me, 
And  rob  my  Saviour  of  his  praise. 


310  GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    LIFE. 

There,  too,  a  sharp  designing  trade 
Sin,  Satan,  and  the  world  maintain ; 
Nor  cease  to  press  me,  and  persuade 
To  part  with  ease,  and  purchase  pain. 

I  know  them,  and  I  hate  their  sin, 
Am  weary  of  the  bustling  crowd ; 
But  while  their  voice  is  heard  within, 
I  cannot  serve  Thee  as  I  would. 

0  for  the  joy  thy  presence  gives ! 

What  peace  shall  reign  when  Thou  art  here ! 
Thy  presence  makes  this  den  of  thieves 
A  calm,  delightful  house  of  prayer. 

And  if  Thou  make  thy  temple  shine, 
Yet,  self-abased,  will  I  adore. 
The  gold  and  silver  are  not  mine  ; 

1  give  Thee  what  was  Thine  before. 

COWPER. 


DEVELOPMENT,    DISCIPLINE, 

AND 

FBUITS    OF   FAITH, 

PART  FOURTH. 

GRACE    AND    TRUTH. 
CHRIST    IN    THE   SOUL   THE   HOPE    OF  GLORY 


WINDINGS  OF  THE  KIVEE, 
CONTINUED. 

4^^ 

fN 

•-i..:^-"-?" 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Christ  the  Light  of  the  Soul. — In  this  world,  partial,  as  through  a  glass  darkly. 
In  the  Celestial  world,  supreme,  entire,  unmingled,  universal. — The  single 
eye,  and  the  Spiritual  body. 

* 

WE  are  told  of  a  Brahman  in  India,  whose  faith  makes  it 
an  article  of  religious  duty  to  abstain  from  eating  the  flesh 
of  animals,  who  one  day  met  an  Englishman  exhibiting 
a  microscope.  The  Englishman,  to  convince  the  Brahman 
of  the  absurdity  of  his  superstition,  would  show  him  that 
he  could  not  help  eating  the  flesh  of  animals,  even  though 
he  lived  upon  vegetables  alone.  He  therefore  persuaded 
him  to  look  through  his  microscope  at  a  piece  of  fruit  or 
vegetable  production,  which  formed  part  of  the  Brahman's 
daily  food,  when  to  the  horror  of  the  man  he  beheld  whole 
herds  of  living  creatures  detected  by  the  power  of  the 
instrument,  and  demonstrating  the  falsehood  of  his  Pagan 
theology.  He  was  so  indignant  at  the  sight,  that  he 
seized  the  microscope  and  trampled  it  under  foot,  breaking 
it  in  pieces,  thinking  perhaps  that  he  had  thus  destroyed 
the  evidence  in  nature  against  him.  So  the  sinful  heart  may 
be  tempted  to  think  that  by  keeping  away  from  the  light, 
or  shutting  the  light  out,  it  may  keep  quiet  in  the  persua- 

J4 


314  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

sion  of  its  own  goodness  and  security.  And  so  a  man  in 
the  indulgence  of  anything  that  is  wrong  avoids  the  light, 
and  would  destroy  the  evidence.  But  a  man  whose  desire 
is  that  Christ  should  rule  supremely  ip  his  heart  and  life,  a 
man  whose  eye  is  single  to  Christ,  will  be  willing  and 
desirous  to  have  Christ's  eye  single  upon  him,  and  every- 
thing open  to  Christ's  inspection  and  the  trial  of  the 
truth.  When  this  is  the  case,  the  whole  body  will  be  full 
of  light ;  there  will  be  very  few  causes  or  occasions  of 
darkness. 

There  being  this  reliance  of  the  soul  on  Christ,  this 
singleness  and  fixedness  of  purpose  in  divine  things,  this 
breathing  of  the  soul  after  him,  will  lead  to  great  and 
persevering  intensity  in  prayer,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
be  vouchsafed,  and  God  will  shine  into  the  heart,  so  that 
it  will  be  full  of  light  without  any  darkness.  Purity  and 
disinterestedness  of  motive  is  the  first  and  most  important 
thing,  the  very  spring  of  light,  the  spiritual  atmosphere, 
that  not  only  surrounds,  but  permeates  the  being,  and  ren- 
ders it  transparent,  so  that  the  light,  as  it  were,  goes 
through  and  through  it.  With  this  singleness  and  fixed- 
ness of  purpose  and  purity  of  motive,  there  will  be  great 
simplicity  of  mind,  and  an  intuitive  discernment  of  light 
and  knowledge.  The  insight  of  the  soul  into  divine  things 
will  be  spontaneous.  He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things, 
for  the  Spirit  that  dwells  within  him  searcheth  all  things, 
even  the  deep  things  of  God.  His  soul  is  as  different  from 
that  of  a  natural  man,  as  a  palace  with  windows  is  dif- 
ferent from  a  subterranean  dungeon.  Simple  love  to 
Christ,  and  fixedness  of  the  heart  on  Him,  make  the  soul 
transparent,  for  heavenly  light  to  enter,  and  dwell  in  every 
part. 

This,  certainly,  is  the  meaning  of  that  text,  If  thine  eye 
be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light.  Single, 
that  is,  simple,  undivided,  sincere,  and  straight  to  its 
object.  But  what  is  that  object  ?  Single  to  what  ?  What 
can  it  be  but  Christ,  the  source  of  duty  and  of  light  ? 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     315 

Single  to  Christ,  and  not  looking  askant  to  earth  and  self. 
Single  to  the  Source  of  light.  Or,  if  we  take  it  in  the 
connexion,  which  is  an  argument  and  command  not  to  lay 
up  treasure  on  earth  but  in  heaven,  for  where  your  trea- 
sure is  there  will  your  heart  be  also,  and  if  your  heart  be 
fixed  on  that  treasure,  that  is,  if  your  eye  be  single  to  that, 
then  your  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light ; — take  it  in 
this  way,  and  the  matter  is  just  as  plain  as  before.  For 
what  is  heaven,  and  what  is  your  treasure  there,  but 
Christ,  and  what  are  you  to  seek  but  Christ  ?  Still,  no- 
thing but  Christ,  so  that  the  meaning  of  the  passage  is 
perfectly  plain,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  hide  or  darken  it. 
This  singleness  commanded  is  fixedness  of  the  soul  on 
God,  on  heaven,  on  Christ ;  a  supreme  regard  to  his  will, 
and  to  your  duty  to  him,  and  to  those  things  on  which  he 
commands  you  to  fasten  your  affections.  This  is  to  have 
the  eye  single  ;  and  having  this,  you  are  sure  of  the  pro- 
mise that  follows,  fulness  of  light. 

The  light  promised  is  in  reference  to  God,  spiritual 
things,  and  our  duty.  The  evidence  of  such  things  will 
be  seen  and  felt  in  all  its  irresistible  power  and  fulness. 
There  shall  be  such  light,  as  to  overcome  doubt,  and  pro- 
duce assurance.  He  that  will  do  God's  will  shall  know  of 
the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  shall  see,  recognise, 
and  know  it  without  mistake,  in  some  measure  as  God 
knows  it ;  it  will  appear  to  the  soul  that  is  born  of  God  as 
it  appears  to  God.  It  will  be  a  clear  transparency  of 
truth,  producing  a  knowledge  and  conviction  heartfelt  and 
unassailable  in  the  inmost  being.  He  that  believeth  hath 
the  witness  in  himself ;  and  God  gives  to  the  believer  in 
Christ  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  know- 
ledge of  him,  the  eyes  of  their  understanding  being 
enlightened,  that  they  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  his 
calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance 
in  the  Saints.  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  says  David,  that 
I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law.  God 


316  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

answers  this  prayer,  and  he  causes  the  soul  to  behold  still 
more  wondrous  things  out  of  the  gospel.  He  shines  into 
the  heart  with  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  his  glory  in 
the  face  of  Christ.  The  Spirit  takes  of  the  things  that 
are  Christ's  and  shows  them  to  the  soul.  It  is  light  upon 
the  attributes  of  God,  especially  as  manifested  in  the  cross 
and  person  of  the  Saviour ;  and  it  is  light  on  the  ways  of 
God  to  man,  and  on  every  part  of  truth  and  providence 
disclosed  in  the  book  of  revelation,  and  on  God's  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  as  seen  in  the  light  of  revelation. 
Thus  filling  the  souls  of  believers  with  truth  and  grace, 
God  makes  them  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light.  It  is  an  inheritance  in  light ;  that 
is  one  of  its  titles  ;  no  night  there,  nor  darkness,  nor  any 
need  of  candle,  nor  light  of  the  sun.  God  makes  his  peo- 
ple meet  for  that  inheritance,  by  making  them  now  children 
of  the  light.  Ye  are  all  the  children  of  the  light  and 
children  of  the  day ;  we  are  not  of  the  night,  nor  of  dark- 
ness. For  ye  were  sometime  darkness,  but  now  are  ye 
light  in  the  Lord  ;  walk  as  children  of  light.  And  God 
accomplishes  this  by  setting  before  the  soul  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  causing  it  by  the  Spirit  to  behold  in  the 
glass  of  faith  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  thus  to  be  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory  as  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord.  It  is  a  ministration  of  glory. 

Christ  being  thus  the  central  luminary,  in  which  the 
soul  sees  all  things,  and  from  which  it  draws  all  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  it  is  like  the  angel  standing  in  the  sun,  a 
position,  in  which  there  are  no  shadows.  In  this  position 
the  light  from  Christ  falls  on  all  things.  The  nature  of 
sin  is  seen  in  it,  the  character  of  mankind,  the  justice  and 
certainty  of  the  opposite  awards  to  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  all  the  relations  of  theology  towards  man  as  well 
as  towards  God.  We  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One, 
says  the  Apostle,  and  know  all  things  ;  and  he  that  is  thus 
spiritual,  occupying  this  spiritual  position  in  Christ, 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     317 

judgeth  all  things.  God  is  light,  and  in  him  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all,  and  therefore  he  that  in  Christ  dwelleth  in  God, 
dwelleth  in  light. 

But  intellectually,  this  light  must  at  present  be  partial, 
even  though  the  soul  be  standing  in  the  sun.  Or  rather, 
though  the  light  be  not  partial,  yet  the  view  of  the  soul 
must  necessarily  be  so,  because,  in  the  nature  of  things 
and  by  reason  of  our  limited  capacities,  we  cannot  now 
see  all  things  in  their  true  relative  position.  It  is  only 
morally,  in  the  way  of  faith  and  love,  that  our  light  can 
be  absolutely  full,  excluding  darkness.  There  may  be 
impassable  gulfs  in  our  vision,  intellectually,  and  such  gaps 
and  breaks  must  be  filled  up  with  love,  or  bridged  over  by 
faith  ;  and  love  will  prevent  darkness,  even  though  the 
mind  may  be  at  a  loss,  may  not  be  able  to  see.  He  that 
folio weth  me,  says  our  Blessed  Lord,  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.  The  promise  is 
unfailing,  but  remember,  it  is  the  light  of  life,  not  of  the 
mere  dry  intellect,  that  is  promised,  not  of  intellectual 
abstractions  and  subtleties.  A  man's  soul  may  be  full  of 
this  glorious  light  of  life,  though  there  may  be  many  things 
which  he  cannot  see.  Not  seeing  does  not  necessarily 
involve  darkness,  for  a  man  may  not  see  many  things  even 
at  noon-day,  because  the  objects  are  too  far  off;  and  some- 
times you  cannot  see,  because  of  the  very  excess  of  light. 
But  the  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light,  which 
shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  There  is  a 
progression  from  one  degree  of  light  to  another.  There 
is  a  partial  day,  and  there  is  a  perfect  day  ;  the  partial  day 
is  here,  the  perfect  day  in  heaven  ;  and  when  that  which 
is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  partial  shall  be  done 
away.  But  till  then,  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight,  and 
there  are  occasions  on  which  the  very  purpose  and  disci- 
pline of  God  in  teaching  us  and  preparing  us  for  the  light, 
and  the  perfect  day,  require  that  we  should  be  for  a  season, 
or  in  some  things,  in  darkness.  But  even  on  such  occa- 
sions— they  may  be  occasions  of  trial  in  affliction,  or 


318  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

occasions  of  severe  assaults  from  the  great  Tempter,  or 
occasions  of  discipline  from  sin,  in  which  the  soul  has  to 
say  with  Jeremiah,  He  hath  led  me  into  darkness,  but  not 
light ;  on  all  such  occasions,  the  believing  soul,  being  re- 
signed to  God's  will,  and  sure  that  he  is .  doing  what  is 
right,  and  all  things  well,  though  it  may  be  in  darkness, 
will  wait  patiently  in  humble  submission  and  confidence, 
if  not  in  joy  and  peace,  knowing  that  all  things  shall  issue 
in  light,  though  now  for  the  present,  if  need  be,  the  soul  is 
in  heaviness  through  manifold  temptations  and  trials. 
The  mere  being  in  darkness,  therefore,  is  no  proof  that 
you  are  not  a  child  of  God.  Sometimes,  in  some  respects, 
darkness  is  necessary,  in  order  that  you  may  see  and  know 
the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  you  of  God.  There 
are  different  kinds  of  light,  and  sometimes  the  light  in 
which  you  are  walking  in  this  world  may  operate  just 
merely  as  a  veil  to  keep  you  from  seeing  the  light  of  the 
celestial  world. 

Have  you  ever  been  with  children  to  see  an  exhibition 
of  transparencies  in  painting  ?  Perhaps  you  have,  fre- 
quently, and  to  very  splendid  ones,  and  yet  may  not  have 
drawn  from  their  arrangement  the  spiritual  lesson,  which 
the  simplest  exhibition  of  the  kind  might  awaken.  We 
were  once,  on  such  an  occasion,  all  seated  and  waiting  in 
a  lighted  room,  when  the  proprietor  and  master  of  the 
show  came,  and  told  us  that  for  a  season  he  must  put  out 
our  lights,  and  leave  us  in  darkness,  but  that  there  would 
be  light  enough  in  the  transparencies  themselves,  when 
they  began  to  shine.  And  so  it  was  indeed,  for  we  needed 
no  light  but  that  which  came  from  the  other  side  through 
the  transparencies,  filling  the  whole  room.  And  so  it  is 
with  all  God's  dealings.  Thy  judgments  are  as  the  light 
that  goeth  forth,  says  the  Psalmist.  Sometimes  God  says 
to  us,  I  must  put  out  your  lights,  or  you  cannot  see  mine. 
But  I  put  yours  out,  only  in  order  that  you  may  see  mine, 
and  never  more  be  in  darkness.  I  leave  you  in  darkness 
for  a  season,  but  when  you  behold  my  glory,  you  will  be 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      319 

satisfied  ;  when  the  transparency  shines,  there  will  be  light 
enough.  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way,  his  wonders  to 
perform. 

Deep  in  unfathomable  mines 

Of  never-failing  skill,  j 

He  treasures  up  his  bright  designs, 

And  works  his  Sovereign  will. 

But  we  cannot  judge  him  by  feeble  sense  ;  that  is  our 
light,  which  he  must  sometimes  darken,  in  order  that  we 
may  trust  him  for  his  grace,  and  so  see  him,  and  observe 
how,  behind  a  frowning  providence,  he  hides  a  smiling  face. 
This  is  God's  infinite,  divine  wisdom. 

Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 

And  scan  his  work  in  vain : 
God  is  his  own  Interpreter, 

And  He  will  make  it  plain. 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  it  is  only  faith  and  love 
which  can  in  this  world  exclude  darkness,  and  make  the 
soul  a  creation  of  light  in  Christ.  This  is  the  experience 
of  heaven  begun  on  earth  ;  this  is  the  light  of  heaven 
shining  on  earth.  If  thine  eye  be  thus  single,  thy  whole 
body  shall  be  full  of  light,  in  such  fulness,  that  there  shall 
be  no  part  dark,  but  it  shall  be  as  when  the  bright  shining 
of  a  candle  doth  give  thee  light,  filling  every  place  in 
thine  apartment.  This  singleness  of  motive,  this  simple, 
reigning,  heartfelt  love,  makes  the  soul  an  undivided  king- 
dom of  glory.  Darkness  is  shut  out,  and  there  is  no  room 
for  any  thing  but  light.  Self-will  is  not  in  the  way,  for -self 
is  forgotten;  not  so  much  sacrificed,  as  forgotten ;  for,  where 
all  is  given  up,  there  is  no  need  of  sacrifice,  nothing  to  be 
relinquished.  Love  gives  up  all,  and  regards  it  not  as  a 
sacrifice,  even  in  the  very  act  of  sacrificing  all ;  love  thinks 
not  of  self,  but  God  is  all  in  all.  God's  will  is  the  delight  of 
the  soul  God's  precepts  delighted  in,  God's  law,  God's  pur-. 


320  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

poses,  God's  commands,  sought  and  obeyed  from  love,  bring 
liberty  and  light.  Freedom  from  self  is  eternal  liberty.  To 
lose  sight  of  self  in  God  is  the  most  perfect  independence 
and  freedom  in  the  universe.  Self  beijig  forgotten,  and  God 
reigning  supremely  in  the  soul,  the  soul  is  one  with  God, 
is  a  partaker  of  God's  blessedness,  God's  light.  The  body 
is  full  of  light.  God's  will,  God's  designs,  God's  plan,  will 
be  clearly  seen  and  known,  and  the  knowledge  of  God's 
will  is  all  that  such  a  soul  needs  to  make  it  blessed ;  for 
God  is  love,  and  his  will  is  love,  to  the  soul  that  loves  him. 
So,  as  we  have  said,  even  if  you  put  such  a  soul  in  dark- 
ness, its  confidence  in  God  makes  it  wait  in  submissive 
joy  and  peace,  knowing  that  all  things  shall  issue  in  clear 
light. 

But  this  clear  light  without  any  darkness,  and  this  issue 
of  all  things  into  it,  can  only  be  in  the  future  world,  the 
world  of  glory.  Here,  we  see  as  through  a  glass  darkly ; 
but  there,  face  to  face.  Here,  we  know  in  part,  but  there, 
even  as  we  are  known.  Here,  we  walk  by  faith,  and  by 
the  communications  of  God's  Spirit  revealing  to  us  through 
his  Word  something  of  the  light  of  heaven.  But  all  that 
we  see  here  is  no  more  than  an  approximation  towards 
some  conception  of  what  is  to  be  seen  there.  For  in  vain 
does  the  imagination  strive  to  fill  the  present  horizon  of 
the  soul's  vision  with  definite  forms.  Beloved,  says  the 
Apostle,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  ;  and  it  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be ;  but.  we  know  that  when  he  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 
When  he,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  we  also 
appear  with  him  in  glory.  Then  indeed,  in  a  wonderful 
sense,  the  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light,  for  it  will  be 
the  glorified  body  of  the  resurrection  of  the  just ;  it  will 
be  a  body  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body,  according  to 
the  working  wherewith  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  himself. 

Now  we  cannot  undertake  to  say  certainly  that  this 
glorified  body  was  in  Christ's  mind  when  he  spake  the 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     321 

words,  Thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light ;  but  we  do 
say  that  the  words  will  then  only  receive  all  the  fulfilment 
of  which  they  are  capable,  when  their  meaning  is  seen  in 
a  body  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body  ;  in  that  body,  which 
all,  whose  heart  and  eye  here  are  irradiated  with  the  light 
and  love  of  Christ,  are  yet  to  put  on.  And  here  we  say, 
moreover,  that  one  great  reason  of  our  utter  incapacity  to 
form  any  definite  conceptions  of  the  glories  of  the  heavenly 
world,  may  be  the  want  of  that  very  medium,  through 
which  alone  the  heavenly  world  can  be  definitely  seen  and 
conversed  with,  and  that  is,  a  body  which  is  the  image  of 
Christ's  body.  When  clothed  upon  with  that  house  which 
is  from  heaven,  the  soul  will  see  and  understand.  It  will 
be  as  familiar  with  the  scenes  of  heaven  as  the  angels  are, 
and  those  scenes  will  be  as  familiar  and  as  suited  to  the 
souls  of  the  redeemed  in  Christ's  image  with  their  glorified 
spiritual  body,  as  to  the  souls  of  angels.  But  it  may  be 
absolutely  impossible,  without  that  spiritual  organization,  to 
come  into  such  communion  with  the  spiritual  world  as  all 
the  redeemed  are  advancing  towards,  and  as  all  the  angels 
enjoy. 

And  this  may  be  one  of  the  mysterious  reasons  which 
induced  the  assumption  by  our  Blessed  Lord  of  a  body  like 
ours  in  accomplishing  the  work  of  redemption ;  that  that 
body  itself  might  be  changed,  glorified,  and  formed  as  a  type, 
according  to  which  it  would  be  possible,  and  according  to 
that  alone,  to  be  admitted  amidst  the  glories  of  heaven 
with  the  possibility  of  understanding  them.  God  is  said 
to  dwell  in  light  inaccessible,  and  that  no  man  hath  seen  nor 
can  see  him,  and  this  impossibility  of  seeing  God  as  he  is, 
in  that  inaccessible  light,  may  be  taken  away  only  by  man 
becoming  just  like  Christ  as  he  is,  being  clothed  in  a  body 
like  unto  his  glorious  body.  And  this  may  be  one  reason 
for  the  unutterable  yearnings  and  longings  expressed  in  the 
Scriptures  for  that  transformation,  for  the  time  of  putting 
on  that  body.  Then  only  will  there  be  a  full  introduction 
to  the  glories  of  the  celestial  world ;  but  then  will  the 

14* 


322    GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL,  &.C. 

whole  body  be  full  of  light,  such  and  so  glorious  that  till 
then  there  can  be  no  adequate  conception  of  it.  In  the 
expectation  of  such  light  the  saints  are  willing  to  see  for 
the  present  as  through  a  glass  darkly.  1 

A  glance  from  heaven,  with  sweet  effect, 

Sometimes  my  pensive  spirit  cheers, 
But  ere  I  can  my  thoughts  collect, 

As  suddenly  it  disappears. 
So  lightning,  in  the  gloom  of  night, 

Affords  a  momentary  day, 
Disclosing  objects  full  in  sight, 

Which,  soon  as  seen,  are  snatched  away. 

But  shall  I  murmur  at  relief  ? 

Though  short,  it  was  a  precious  view, 
Sent  to  control  my  unbelief, 

And  prove  that  what  I  read  was  true. 
The  lightning's  flash  did  not  create 

The  opening  prospect  it  revealed, 
But  only  showed  the  real  state 

Of  what  the  darkness  had  concealed. 

Just  so  we  by  a  glimpse  discern 

The  glorious  things  within  the  veil, 
That  when  in  darkness  we  may  learn 

To  live  by  Faith,  till  light  prevail. 
The  Lord's  great  day  will  soon  advance, 

Dispersing  all  the  shades  of  night; 
Then  we  no  more  shall  need  a  glance, 

But  see  by  an  eternal  light. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

The  Vision  of  Faith  continued. — Spiritual  discernment  only  from  God. — The 
natural  man  and  the  Spiritual  man,  the  blind  man  and  the  seeing. 

NOTHING  can  be  more  emphatic,  precise,  and  unmistakable 
than  the  manner  in  which  the  Scriptures  speak  of  the 
natural  blindness  of  men's  hearts,  until  they  are  brought 
under  the  influence  of  the  grace  of  God.  Then,  and  not 
till  then,  they  begin  to  see  with  the  vision  of  faith ;  then, 
and  not  till  then,  can  they  be  said  to  see.  "  For  judgment 
I  am  come  into  this  world,  that  they  which  see  not  might 
see,  and  that  they  which  see  might  be  made  blind."  The 
first  step  to  a  man's  spiritual  eyesight  is  this  conviction  of 
his  blindness  ;  then  he  sits  by  the  way-side,  when  Christ  is 
passing  by,  and  cries,  Lord,  that  I  might  receive  my  sight ! 
The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  But  when  the  natural  man,  in  this  non-receptive 
blindness,  is  brought  to  the  Great  Physician,  and  the 
operation  of  couching  takes  place,  then  he  begins  to  see ; 
and  as  the  cure  comes  to  its  perfection,  then  the  two  states 
exhibited  in  that  passage  in*the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
are  manifested  in  their  contrast.  The  natural  man  re- 
ceiveth not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  he  that  is 
spiritual  judgeth,  or  discerneth,  all  things. 

The  discernment  here  spoken  of  is  the  teaching  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  The  blindness  spoken  of  came  not  from 
God  but  from  man,  and  is  the  work  of  Satan  in  man. 
But  the  clear-sightedness  here  spoken  of  is  from  God,  not 


324  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

man  or  Satan.  Satan's  kingdom  is  that  of  darkness,  and 
if  a  man  gives  himself  up  to  it,  he  is  marching  to  the 
blackness  of  darkness  for  ever.  God's  kingdom  is  that  of 
light,  and  if  a  man  J}y  Christ's  invitation  will  come  into  it, 
he  shall  be  prepared,  and  at  length  received,  into  that 
world  of  glory,  where  they  have  no  need  either  of  the  sun 
or  the  moon  to  enlighten  it,  for  the  Lord  God  and  the 
Lamb  are  the  light  and  the  temple  of  it. 

The  teaching  of  God's  Spirit  is  in  the  heart.  God 
begins  there,  and  works  upon  the  affections.  The  Divine 
Spirit  does  not  come  with  a  great  array  of  sciences, 
chemical  lectures,  mathematical  demonstrations,  Aristo- 
telian subtleties,  or  interminable  absolutisms  of  German 
metaphysics,  or  systems  either  of  logic,  or  theology,  or 
materialism,  cut  and  dried  as  classified  anatomies  in  a 
museum.  Nothing  of  all  this,  which  by  its  very  presenta- 
tion flatters  the  pride  of  intellect  in  man.  Except  ye 
become  as  little  children,  not  as  wise  philosophers,  there 
is  no  teaching  for  you  here.  And  ye  must  come  as  little 
children,  or  ye  will  never  become  either  children  or  wise 
men  in  the  school  of  Christ ;  for  the  very  first  lesson  of 
the  Great  Teacher  is — what  ?  Rhetoric  ?  Logic  ?  Mira- 
cles ?  Churches  ?  Baptisms  ?  Sciences  ?  No  !  nothing 
of  all  this,  but  just  simply,  meekness  and  lowliness  of 
heart ;  and  then  a  man  does  indeed  get  into  the  very  heart 
and  soul  of  knowledge,  while  all  others  are  but  just  walk- 
ing blindfold  over  the  outside  crust.  Learn  of  me,  for  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  that  is  the  first  lesson. 
So  God  begins  with  the  heart.  The  teaching  of  his  Spirit 
prepares  the  heart  to  see,  and  then  the  mind  is  taught  to 
see,  through  the  heart.  God  hath  shined  in  our  hearts. 
He  must  begin  there,  because  there,  and  not  in  the  mind, 
is  the  seat  of  darkness  and  evil.  In  all  moral  things  the 
mind  is  within  the  heart,  not  the  heart  within  the  mind  ; 
in  all  moral  things  the  heart  is  the  window  of  the  mind, 
not  the  mind  the  window  of  the  heart.  The  veil  of  the  god 
of  this  world  is  over  the  heart  first ;  he  could  never  get  it 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     325 

over  the  mind  otherwise.  The  mental  philosophy  of  the 
Bible  is  just  this,  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Ephesians  ; 
Vanity  of  mind,  having  the  understanding  darkened,  being 
alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that 
is  in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  heart.  There- 
fore the  Great  Physician  of  the  soul,  whose  Omniscience 
discerns  not  the  mere  symptoms,  but  the  seat  of  the  disease, 
goes  directly  to  the  heart. 

There  the  teaching  of  God's  Spirit  produces  this  spiritual 
discernment,  which  is  sharpened  and  increased  just  in 
proportion  as  a  right  state  of  the  affections  is  produced 
and  made  permanent.  A  right  state  of  the  affections 
towards  God  is  the  whole  secret  of  light  and  knowledge. 
If  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body,  thy  whole  being, 
mortal  and  immortal,  shall  be  full  of  light.  This  right 
state  of  the  affections  in  spiritual  things  is  analogous  to  a 
clear  state  of  the  atmosphere  in  material  things,  for  the 
affections  may  be  called  the  atmosphere  of  the  soul. 
There  is  as  great  a  difference  of  times  and  states  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other.  Sometimes,  walking  on  the  sea- 
shore, you  can  see  far  out  over  it.  Again  it  is  dim  and 
hazy,  and  you  can  see  nothing.  Just  so  in  spiritual  things. 
Sometimes  in  sailing  over  the  ocean  you  can  see  as  far  as 
the  very  roundness  of  the  globe  will  suffer  you;  you 
can  see  the  tops  of  the  masts,  when  the  hull  is  hidden  by 
the  globe's  convexity.  Just  so  you  can  sometimes  see 
the  colors,  the  pennants,  the  top-gallant  sails  of  Divine 
Truths,  when  the  hull  is  hidden  from  you  by  the  very  con- 
stitution of  your  being,  as  a  creature  of  this  world,  and  of 
a  perishable  body. 

Sometimes  even  in  sailing  by  night,  under  a  cloudless 
sky,  although  there  be  no  moon,  the  air  is  so  serenely 
clear,  and  the  stars  are  so  glittering,  that  no  signals  are 
needed ;  you  are  in  no  danger  of  striking  a  ship  in  your 
course,  or  a  reef  before  you.  But  again  the  air  shall  be 
so  thick,  so  foggy,  that  even  by  day  you  can  see  nothing 
before  you,  but  must  sail,  if  at  all,  by  the  lead  and  line, 


326  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  by  ringing  the  alarm  bell,  that  the  sound  may  tell, 
where  the  sight  fails. 

Now  we  suppose  there  is  quite  as  great  a  difference 
produced,  by  the  state  of  the  affections?  in  the  atmosphere 
of  the  soul.  When  the  heart  is  right  with  God,  humble, 
submissive,  believing,  the  things  of  eternity  rise  up  with  a 
divine  clearness.  Where  there  is  no  selfishness  in  the 
way,  O  with  what  beauty  and  glory  do  all  God's  dispensa- 
tions and  revelations  of  himself  appear  !  How  clearly  are 
truths  seen,  and  how  powerfully  apprehended  and  felt, 
which  at  other  times,  and  in  a  different  state  of  the  affec- 
tions, are  scarcely  distinguished  or  realized  at  all  !  The 
simplest  truths  sometimes  come  out  as  in  a  new  revelation. 
You  wonder  where  you  have  been,  or  what  you  have  been 
doing  all  this  while,  that  you  had  not  seen  them  in  this 
light  before.  They  are  as  windows  in  heaven.  You  seem 
in  such  a  case  as  if  carried  past  the  stars  into  heaven's 
pure  ether,  or  as  if  sailing  gloriously  amidst  Paradisaical 
islands,  where  every  object  is  full  of  radiance  and  beauty. 
New  worlds  upon  worlds  seem  opening  before  you. 

But  at  other  times,  let  the  heart  be  wrong,  let  it  be 
earthly,  self-seeking,  distrustful  of  God,  anxious,  prayerless, 
and  nothing  of  all  this  glory  can  be  seen.  You  may  be 
carried  past  the  same  stars  in  the  same  position,  but  you 
shall  not  see  them  ;  you  may  sail  amidst  the  same  islands, 
but  the  air  is  so  thick,  that  you  shall  strike  the  rocks 
before  you  are  aware  of  them.  And  sometimes  in  the 
voyages  of  your  soul  you  shall  feel  that  you  can  only  go 
by  anxious  soundings,  the  compass  itself  seeming  useless, 
not  knowing  your  bearings,  hearing  here  and  there,  per- 
haps, the  dim  tolling  bell  amidst  the  thick  darkness,  warn- 
ing you  to  keep  off.  Or  you  may  neither  hear  nor  see 
anything  by  which  you  can  fix  your  position,  and  you  may 
be  tossed  like  Paul  in  his  vessel  up  and  down  in  Adria, 
wishing  for  the  day,  happy  if  meanwhile  your  anchors 
will  hold  you,  till  you  can  see  what  to  do. 

But  he  that  is  spiritual  discerneth  all  things.     As  many 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      327 

as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  children  of 
God.  We  must  let  God's  sacred  Word  make  its  own 
definitions,  for  the  Holy  Ghost  thus  teacheth,  by  compar- 
ing spiritual  things  with  spiritual.  This  being  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  the  secret  of  all  true  spiritual  discernment. 
The  Spirit  takes  of  the  things  that  are  Christ's,  and  shows 
them  to  the  soul ;  that,  in  fact,  belongs  to  the  office  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter.  The  Spirit  leads  the  soul  into 
all  truth,  according  to  Christ's  promise.  He  that  is  thus 
taught,  led,  enlightened,  is  spiritual,  and  discerns  all  things 
by  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit.  He  understands  by  a 
spiritual  experience,  things  otherwise  a  blank  mystery  to 
him.  The  soul  never  realizes  the  spiritual  world  without 
this,  nor  becomes  sensible  either  of  its  forms  or  infinite 
interests  and  responsibilities  of  being.  The  very  existence 
of  God  is  a  thing  not  realized  without  this. 

But  if  thy  Spirit  touch  the  soul, 

And  grace  her  mean  abode, 
Oh  !  with  what  peace  and  joy  and  love 

She  then  communes  with  God. 

Truly  the  soul  itself  is  as  a  dungeon  without  this.  A 
man  must  have  this  spiritual  discernment,  or  the  world 
itself  is  as  a  prison  and  a  sepulchre  to  him.  A  man 
might  as  well  be  laid  in  the  grave.  For  what  is  the  differ- 
ence between  a  space  as  big  as  a  coffin,  and  a  space  as 
large  as  our  globe,  if  a  man  be  without  God,  without 
spiritual  discernment.  Such  a  man's  soul  is  really  in  a 
clay  coffin,  though  the  walls  of  the  universe  be  the  lids  of 
his  sepulchre. 

Now  the  degree  of  spiritual  discernment  possessed  by  a 
being  taught  of  the  Spirit  of  God  depends  much  upon  the 
habits  of  the  soul,  the  study  of  spiritual  things,  the  degree 
of  watchfulness  against  sin,  the  faithfulness  of  the  soul  in 
prayer,  the  time  one  has  been  conversant  with  divine 
realities,  and  the  habit  of  living  with  reference  to  them. 


328  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

A  long  practised  eye  is  keen-sighted.  A  prayerful,  spiritual 
Christian,  drawing  near  the  close  of  this  mortal  career, 
sometimes  seems  to  walk  in  open  vision  of  unseen  glories. 
Hence  Bunyan's  most  delightful  and*  yet  truthful  picture 
of  the  Land  Beulah.  Hence  the  radiant  vision  of  a  soul 
like  Baxter,  and  his  familiarity  with  the  things  of  the 
Saints'  Rest.  Hence  the  ravishing  clearness  with  which 
a  soul  like  Edwards'  sees  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  the 
attributes  of  God,  the  glory  of  the  Cross,  the  divine 
majesty  of  the  Saviour.  And  hence,  too,  the  surprising 
acquaintance  of  such  souls  with  the  mysteries  of  Revela- 
tion. The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him, 
and  he  will  show  them  his  covenant.  An  unction  from 
the  Holy  One  rests  upon  them,  and  they  know  all  things. 
Hence  their  discernment  of  the  human  heart,  and  their 
knowledge  both  of  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  man. 
The  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  the  things  of  the  natural  man  every  man  knows. 
And  the  spiritual  man,  having  once  been  the  natural  man, 
knows  his  old  state  perfectly,  and  that  of  every  other  man 
by  it ;  because,  as  in  water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the 
heart  of  man  answers  to  man.  And  by  the  light  and 
teachings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  he  now,  as  the  spiritual  man, 
knows  the  deep  workings  of  human  depravity  much  more 
thoroughly  than  he  ever  did  as  a  natural  man.  He  looks 
back  over  the  path  he  was  so  long  pursuing,  and  over 
which  thousands  upon  thousands  are  now  crowding,  and 
he  sees  where  each  soul  is  wandering  in  the  congregation 
of  the  dead.  He  himself  having  been  brought  out  into  the 
light,  looks  back  through  the  region  of  darkness,  but  they 
that  are  in  the  darkness  cannot  see,  through  that,  into  the 
region  of  light.  He  judges  the  natural  man,  but  the 
natural  man  cannot  judge  him,  except  only  by  seeing  in 
his  life  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  But  the  hidden  life  of  the 
regenerated  soul,  the  life  hidden  with  Christ  in  God,  is 
discerned  of  no  man.  The  things  of  God  must  be  seen  by 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     329 

the  Spirit  of  God,  by  an  experience  produced  by  his  Spirit 
in  the  soul. 

Now  is  there  anything  strange  in  this  ?  "  Is  this  a  hard 
saying,  that  a  man  needs  to  be  taught  of  God ;  that  sin 
makes  him  blind,  until  God  makes  him  to  see ;  and  that  all 
the  true  piety  he  ever  had  or  ever  will  have,  comes  from 
God  only  ?  Is  it  a  hard  saying,  that  man,  being  fallen 
and  lost,  cannot  save  himself,  but  God  must  save  him  ? 
Why,  truly,  we  think  it  is  a  very  blessed  saying.  It  is 
great  joy  and  glory  to  feel  that  in  our  religion,  at  least,  we 
have  got  one  element,  that  is  no  part  of  it  from  man,  but 
all  of  God.  Men  may  take  their  full  swing,  if  they  please, 
in  self-glorification  about  their  republicanism,  and  hospitals, 
and  gold  mines,  and  steam-engines,  and  railroads,  and 
magnetic  telegraphs ;  but  let  them  stop  this  side  heaven ; 
let  them  confess  that  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him,  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually 
discerned.  No,  he  must  be  taught  of  God,  he  must  have 
this  spiritual  discernment  wrought  in  him.  Where  is 
boasting  then  ?  Thank  God,  it  is  excluded  ;  yea,  there  is 
one  thing  out  of  which  our  pride  is  excluded  utterly,  and 
no  room  left  for  it,  because  it  is  not  of  man,  but  only  of 
God. 

This  is  a  great  triumph  of  our  Redeemer's  grace  over 
the  temptations  of  Satan,  so  that  he  cannot  tempt  us  with 
his  leering  flatteries  and  lies  about  our  godlike  human 
nature,  a  thing  which  we  know  we  have  trampled  in  the 
mire  of  sin,  and  from  which  we  have  obliterated  the  divine 
image.  It  is  an  infinite  proof  of  the  reality  of  this  religion 
of  the  Cross  as  God's  religion,  that  it  is  God's  wholly, 
not  man's  ;  that  it  is  not  the  bolstering  up  of  rotten  posts 
in  man's  ruined  nature,  banking  them  up  so  as  to  conceal 
them,  nor  the  nursing  and  cosseting  and  cultivating  of  his 
religious  and  godlike  tendencies  in  the  midst  of  his  sins  ; 
but  a  new  creation,  a  new  birth  and  growth,  a  new  gar- 


330  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

ment,  and  not  the  patch-work  of  an  old  one.  It  is  not 
man  cultivated  up  to  God,  but  it  is  God  coming  down  to 
man,  and  making  him  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature 
through  the  knowledge  of  Christ ;  sb  that,  if  any  man  be 
in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  ;  old  things -are  done  away, 
behold  all  things  are  become  new,  and  all  things  are  of 
God.  Any  man,  no  matter  who.  He  may  have  thought 
himself  ever  so  amiable,  so  virtuous,  so  free  from  evil,  so 
godlike  ; — if  he  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  creature  ;  there  is 
nothing  of  the  old  man  that  can  stand  ;  and  if  he  be  not 
in  Christ,  he  is  not  a  new  creature  ;  it  is  merely  the  same 
old  natural  man  that  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  so  that  whatever  be  the  virtues  of  that  natural 
man,  yet  if  he  trusts  in  them,  they  are  all  but  the  traps  of 
Satan  to  keep  him  away  from  Christ.  Virtues  trusted  in 
may  do  that  as  well,  and  sometimes  better,  than  crimes. 
They  are  false  weights  put  into  a  man's  scales,  by  which, 
though  he  may  be  priding  himself  on  his  never  having 
injured  or  cheated  his  fellow  man,  yet  he  cheats  both  him- 
self and  God,  or  rather  attempts  to  do  this,  for  God  cannot 
be  deceived.  But  a  man  with  Satan's  help  may  very  easily 
deceive  himself ;  nay,  he  needs  no  help  to  do  this  ;  and  if 
such  self-deception  keeps  him  away  from  Christ,  it  will  be 
his  everlasting  ruin.  He  must  be  a  new  creature  if  he 
would  be  saved ;  he  never  will  be,  but  in  Christ. 

Now  therefore,  we  see  very  clearly  the  infinite  impor- 
tance and  blessedness  of  this  spiritual  discernment  pre- 
sented as  characteristic  only  of  the  spiritual  man,  and  the 
only  way  of  gaining  it.  It  is  most  certainly  the  gift  of 
God's  Spirit  and  that  alone,  and  it  must  be  sought  with 
great  earnestness  from  God.  It  is  in  connexion  with  the 
promise  of  this  gift,  that  our  Blessed  Lord  has  insisted 
upon  this  importunity.  The  heart  that  would  neither  be 
blinded  of  self  and  Satan,  nor  left  to  insensibility,  nor  to 
the  delusions  of  peace  when  there  is  no  peace,  must  come 
to  Jesus  Christ  for  instruction  and  healing,  must  come  to 
God  in  prayer  through  him,  must  come  to  God's  Word, 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     331 

begging  for  the  light  and  sanctifying  grace  of  God's  Spirit. 
And  the  mind  must  be  careful  not  to  come  to  the  Word 
of  God  under  a  cloud  of  prejudice,  or  in  the  mist  of 
notions  preconceived  in  a  state  of  blindness  and  insensi- 
bility to  spiritual  truth.  A  man  must  remember  how  vast 
and  fatal  may  be  the  effect  of  a  mistake  either  in  regard 
to  his  own  character  or  God's  character.  He  must  come 
with  the  prayer,  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,  and  not, 
God,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men.  He  must 
come  with  humble  views  of  ruined  human  natnre,  or  his 
whole  theology  and  religion  will  be  a  system  of  mistake 
and  ruin.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Newton  himself 
was  seventeen  years  calculating  in  vain  in  regard  to  the 
heavenly  bodies,  because  of  a  slight  mistake  as  to  the 
measurement  of  the  earth's  circumference.  Just  so  in 
theology,  a  man  may  fail  of  learning  the  whole  system,  by 
a  misconception  as  to  his  own  character  and  place  in  it. 
He  must  take  some  accurate  measurement  of  self  before 
he  can  learn  God,  and  must  come  to  God  to  learn  the  truth 
in  regard  to  self.  God's  Word  will  teach  him  his  own 
ruin,  and  the  remedy  for  it,  and  Christ  will  anoint  his  eyes 
with  eye-salve  that  he  may  see. 

And  then  the  habit  of  looking  at  spiritual  things  is  of 
vast  importance.  A  man's  spiritual  sight  is  greatly 
strengthened  by  use.  The  inward  eye  must  be  purged 
from  films,  and  able  to  gaze  fixedly  and  steadily,  so  as  to 
detect  error  and  discern  the  truth.  If  you  have  ever  been 
at  sea,  you  have  noted  how  quickly,  and  almost  miracu- 
lously, an  accustomed  seaman  will  discern  a  far-off  sail  in 
the  horizon.  It  seems  to  a  landsman  like  a  supernatural 
faculty,  and  such  a  man  will  gaze  and  gaze  again  in  the 
very  direction  pointed  out  to  him,  and  yet  can  see  nothing 
of  the  reported  sail.  And  often  he  cannot  find  it,  even 
though  he  looks  through  the  telescope,  when  your  practised 
seaman  with  his  sharp  sight  can  see  it  with  the  naked  eye. 
It  is  because  the  landsman  has  been  accustomed  to  look  at 
objects  only  near  at  hand,  and  to  look  at  more  distant  objects 


332  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

through  the  comparatively  dense  and  mixed  atmosphere 
that  rests  upon  the  earth.  And  just  so,  a  spiritual  mind, 
accustomed  to  gaze  over  the  ocean  of  Eternity,  habituated 
to  a  vast  horizon,  catches  the  truthj  afar  off,  can  tell  you 
its  bearings,  can  discern,  as  it  were,  what, nation  it  is  of, 
even  before  an  earthly  mind  can  see  it  at  all. 

So  a  spiritual  mind,  with  its  piercing  and  practised 
vision,  can  sometimes  see  a  whole  fleet  of  white  sails  cross- 
ing the  bright  horizon  of  Eternal  truth,  when  your  earthly 
mind  will  come  up  out  of  its  cabin,  and  gaze  in  every 
direction  without  seeing  anything,  declaring  perhaps  that 
there  is  not  a  solitary  sail  visible.  Give  him  the  telescope, 
the  Word  of  God  ;  show  him  the  text,  with  the  truth  break- 
ing through  it,  as  glory  through  a  cleft  in  heaven  ;  and  yet 
he  cannot  see.  He  wonders  how  you  can  see,  and  sets  it 
down  as  vain  enthusiasm.  Just  so  a  landsman  at  sea  can- 
not discern  the  land,  when  the  man  at  the  mast-head,  yea 
and  all  the  crew,  can  see  it  afar  off.  So  a  mind  accustomed 
to  earthly  things,  and  to  looking  through  an  earthly  medium, 
cannot  see  divine  truth  as  the  eye  of  faith  can  see  it. 
Just  so  in  the  voyage  of  life,  a  mind  that  is  taught  of  God, 
and  accustomed  to  the  things  of  his  Word,  a  prayerful 
mind,  and  a  humble,  believing  heart,  sees  a  thousand  signs 
and  realities,  which  a  careless,  unbelieving  man  never 
notices.  A  spiritual  voyager  sees  hidden  rocks,  and  shoals, 
and  dangers,  which  a  man  neglectful  of  God  and  eternity 
does  not  see,  but  makes  his  course  directly  over  them. 
He  may  escape  them  for  a  season,  but  by  and  by  he  will 
make  shipwreck  of  his  soul. 

Now  amidst  all  these  dangers,  and  all  the  temptations  of 
the  world,  the  multitudinous  maze  of  evil  examples,  and 
the  desperate  blindness  and  insensibility  of  sin,  what  an 
infinite  mercy  that  if  we  will,  we  may  be  taught  of  God. 
Taught  of  God  !  How  simple,  how  beautiful,  how  glorious 
the  expression  !  Yea,  there  is  heaven  itself  in  that  expres- 
sion, and  a  man  taught  of  God  cannot  miss  heaven.  A 
man  taught  of  God  will  know  every  part  of  religious 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     333 

experience,  know  it  by  heart.  A  man  taught  of  God  will 
know  the  way  of  prayer  by  experience,  the  life  of  faith  by 
experience,  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  by  experi- 
ence. But  this  spiritual  discernment  must  be  begun  on 
earth,  or  it  will  never  be  found  in  heaven. 

Let  a  man  take  care  of  putting  presumption  in  place  of 
discernment.  What  Bunyan  quaintly  says  of  pinnacle- 
men  is  full  of  instruction.  "  You  have  some  men  cannot 
be  content  to  worship  in  the  temple,  but  must  be  aloft ;  no 
place  will  serve  them  but  pinnacles,  pinnacles ;  that  they 
may  be  speaking  in  and  to  the  air,  that  they  may  be  pro- 
moting their  heady  notions  instead  of  solid  truth  ;  not 
considering  that  now  they  are  where  the  devil  would  have 
them  be.  They  strut  upon  their  points,  their  pinnacles ; 
but  let  them  look  to  it,  there  is  difficult  standing  upon 
pinnacles  ;  their  neck,  their  soul  is  in  danger.  We  read, 
God  is  in  his  temple,  not  upon  these  pinnacles." 

Easy  indeed  it  were  to  reach 

A  mansion  in  the  courts  above, 
If  swelling  words  and  fluent  speech 

Might  serve  instead  of  faith  and  love. 
But  none  shall  gain  the  blissful  place, 

Or  God's  unclouded  glory  see, 
Who  talks  of  free  and  sovereign  grace, 

Unless  that  grace  has  made  him  free. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Faith's   Vision  continued. — Spiritual   discernment  and   Spiritual    insensibility 
both  illustrated  by  the  Transfiguration. 

ON  this  subject  of  spiritual  discernment,  or  the  vision  of 
Faith,  a  world  of  sacred  meaning  is  opened  to  us  in  the 
simple  account  of  the  Transfiguration.  As  we  have 
endeavored  to  trace  the  early  process  of  Faith  in  the  lives 
of  those  disciples,  whom  our  Blessed  Lord  took  with  him 
into  the  Mount,  we  will  now,  through  the  window  of  a 
great  phrase  in  the  inspired  description,  look  upon  a 
material  point  in  the  growth  and  increase  of  faith,  or  the 
discipline  requisite  for  its  clear-sightedness. 

It  is  said  that  when  they  were  awake,  they  saw  His 
glory.  It  was  glory  that  had  been  burning  on  the  Mount 
all  night  long,  while  they  were  sleeping  and  saw  it  not. 
It  was  a  glory  that  brought  Heaven  and  earth,  God  and 
man  together,  the  glory  of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and 
of  redeemed  humanity  in  the  image  of  God,  clothed  upon 
in  the  likeness  of  the  Saviour.  But  when  it  began,  and 
long  after  it  continued,  the  disciples  were  heavy  with 
sleep,  and  saw  nothing  of  it.  They  were  in  the  midst  of 
it,  and  yet  saw  it  not.  But  it  went  on,  as  the  orbs  of 
heaven  went  on  in  their  courses,  while  they  slumbered ; 
and  when  they  were  awake,  and  not  till  then,  they  saw  it. 

The  circumstances  of  the  case  account,  in  some  mea- 
sure, for  the  heaviness  of  the  disciples  with  sleep,  although, 
had  they  been  as  deeply  interested  in  their  Redeemer  and 


GRACE    AND    TRUTH,    CHRIST    IN    THE    6OUL,    &C.          335 

his  spiritual  kingdom  as  they  afterwards  were,  they  would 
have  watched  with  Christ,  and  seen  the  coming  on  of  this 
great  glory.  But  they  had  been  travelling  perhaps  all  the 
day,  and  ascending  the  mountains  with  some  fatigue  to 
the  point  where  this  amazing  revelation  was  to  take  place. 
This  was  an  instructive  circumstance  in  itself,  for  our 
bright  visions  of  heaven  are  not  to  be  gained  without 
climbing,  and  often  cost  much  labor,  time,  and  patience, 
to  come  at  them,  much  earnest,  persevering  prayer  and 
discipline  of  the  soul.  But  when  you  have  climbed  the 
mountain,  when  the  heights  are  once  gained,  though  it 
may  have  cost  days  and  weeks  of  wearisome  travel,  the 
glory  of  the  view  is  more  than  a  compensation  for  all  the 
fatigue.  And  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  spiritual 
fatigue,  instead  of  oppressing  the  eye  of  the  soul  with 
slumber,  opens  it,  and  renders  it  clear  and  watchful,  far- 
seeing  and  strong.  It  is  a  discipline  the  very  nature  of 
which  tends  to  put  the  soul  in  such  a  state,  that  the  glory  of 
the  prospect  may  be  clearly  discerned,  and  enjoyed  to  the 
uttermost.  Even  while  the  soul  is  climbing,  and  before 
it  reaches  the  point  where  there  is  the  greatest  sweep  of 
vision,  it  catches  many  sights  of  glory,  many  ravishing 
prospects  by  the  way  ;  and  the  higher  it  rises,  the  more 
extensive  and  glorious  they  become.  The  mountain 
scenery  of  the  spiritual  life  and  experience  is  full  of  glory. 

It  was  the  Delectable  Mountains,  whither  the  Shepherds 
carried  the  two  Pilgrims,  Christian  and  Hopeful,  to  behold 
afar  off  a  glimpse  of  their  inheritance  in  glory.  But  it 
was  not  without  fatigue  and  long  climbing  that  they 
arrived  at  those  summits.  And  every  new  instructive 
scene  that  they  beheld  there,  they  had  a  mount  to  climb  to 
get  at  it.  So  it  always  is  in  Christian  experience.  Great 
enjoyment,  and  large  views,  and  vast  rich  prospects  of 
heaven  and  earth  are  not  to  be  gained  without  much 
and  often  wearisome  effort ;  but  when  they  are  gained 
they  infinitely  more  than  recompense  the  soul  for  all  the 
fatigue  it  has  encountered. 


336  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

We  may  mention  here  that  at  the  bottom  of  these 
Delectable  Mountains  there  was  a  country  called  Conceit, 
the  way  into  which  was  connected,  by  a  very  crooked  lane 
indeed,  but  still  at  a  short  cut,  with  the  way  of  the  Pil- 
grims coming  down  from  their  great  visions  of  instruction 
and  glory  in  the  mountains.  It  were  very  easy  to  turn 
into  that  lane,  and  enter  the  country  of  Conceit,  even 
direct  from  the  glory  of  all  those  revelations.  Now  we  do 
not  know  that  Bunyan  had  here  in  his  eye  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  and  the  conduct  of  the  disciples  after- 
wards ;  but  certain  it  is,  if  we  read  on  a  few  verses  in 
the  chapter  in  Luke  which  records  the  scene  on  that 
Mount  and  the  glory  witnessed  by  the  disciples,  we  find 
them  reasoning  among  themselves  which  of  them  should 
be  the  greatest.  Ah,  here  they  had  got  into  this  country 
of  Conceit,  however  crooked  the  lane  might  have  been 
that  led  to  it  from  the  bottom  of  the  Mountain.  And 
perhaps  the  very  enjoyments  they  had  been  refreshed  with 
on  the  Mount,  the  very  sights  of  glory  they  had  there 
seen,  did,  by  the  artifice  of  Satan,  operate  to  awaken  in 
their  hearts  a  mixture  of  spiritual  and  worldly  pride, 
which  was  itself  the  crooked  lane  by  which  they  wandered 
away  from  the  Saviour.  Coming  down  from  the  Mountain, 
whenever  we  have  been  so  favored  as  to  be  at  the  top  of 
it,  we  need  beware  of  the  country  of  Conceit. 

Bunyan  has  also  placed,  a  little  beyond  these  Delectable 
Mountains,  the  country  of  the  flatterer,  the  way  which 
put  itself  into  the  Way  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  seemed  withal 
to  lie  as  straight  as  the  way  which  they  would  go,  and 
there  the  Flatterer  met  them,  a  man  with  black  flesh,  but 
covered  with  a  very  light  robe.  And  while  they  stood 
thinking  about  the  way,  this  black  but  bright-covered 
man  asked  them  why  they  were  stopping  there  ?  They 
answered  that  they  were  going  to  the  Celestial  City,  but 
knew  not  which  of  these  ways  to  take.  Follow  me,  said 
the  man,  for  it  is  thither  that  I  am  going.  So  they  fol- 
lowed him  in  the  way  that  but  now  came  into  the  road, 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     337 

which  by  degrees  turned,  and  turned  them  so  from  the 
City  that  they  desired  to  go  to,  that  in  a  little  time  their 
faces  were  turned  away  from  it : — yet  they  followed  him. 
But  by  and  by,  before  they  were  aware,  he  led  them  both 
within  the  compass  of  a  net,  in  which  they  were  both  so 
entangled,  that  they  knew  not  what  to  do ;  and  with  that 
the  white  robe  fell  off  the  black  man's  back  : — then  they 
saw  where  they  were. 

Now  the  Shepherds  upon  the  Delectable  Mountains  had, 
.  the  very  day  before,  given  these  .Pilgrims  a  note  of  the 
way,  amidst  all  their  instructions  and  sights  of  glory  on 
the  Mountain,  and  had  bidden  them  beware  of  this  very 
Flatterer,  for  that  he  would  meet  them,  when  they  went 
down  from  the  mountains.  And  when  the  Shining  One 
met  them  to  rend  the  net  and  deliver  them,  and  afterwards 
chastised  them,  he  asked  them  where  they  were  the  night 
preceding.  And  they  told  him  with  the  Shepherds  upon 
the  Delectable  Mountains.  And  he  asked  them  if  they 
had  not  been  told  to  beware  of  the  Flatterer.  They 
answered  yes  ;  but  we  did  not  imagine,  said  they,  that  this 
fine-spoken  man  had  been  he. 

There  is  a  volume  of  instruction  here.  Perhaps  the 
talk  of  this  Flatterer  with  the  Pilgrims  was  concerning 
the  very  sights  they  had  seen  upon  the  Mountains,  and  he 
was  persuading  them  that  the  Pilgrims  that  had  seen  such 
sights  were  very  near  perfection,  they  could  not  sin,  they 
were  holy  and  without  sin,  and  such  spiritual  exercises 
could  have  no  mixture  of  sin  in  them.  He  talked  much 
of  the  perfection  of  such  frames,  and  persuaded  them  of 
their  own  attainment  of  perfection  in  them ;  and  so  he 
went  on  in  this  fine-spoken  way,  till  he  had  led  them  clean 
about,  right  contrary  to  the  way  to  the  Celestial  City, 
whither  they  had  been  travelling.  Then  by  the  mercy  of 
God  his  robe  was  made  to  fall  from  him,  and  they  were 
made  to  see  the  dreadful  delusion  they  had  been  in ;  or 
otherwise  he  would  have  gone  on  with  them,  till  he  had 
plunged  them  into  the  deep  of  soul-destroying  sin  and 

15 


338  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

error.  There  are  false  Apostles,  that  transform  themselves 
into  angels  of  light,  and  he  that  flattereth  his  neighbor, 
spreadeth  a  net  for  his  feet.  This  black,  but  bright-covered 
Flatterer  took  the  Pilgrims  just  as  they  had  been  much 
favored  in  their  spiritual  life,  just  as  they  had  come  down 
from  the  mountains ;  and  Satan  is  always  in  wait  thus  to 
ensnare  us,  and  turn  our  very  enjoyments  and  privileges 
into  temptations  to  our  ruin. 

It  was  thus  that  he  ensnared  the  disciples  when  they 
came  down  from  the  Mount.  Our  Blessed  Lord  gave  them 
as  it  were,  a  note  of  the  way,  and  bade  them  beware  of 
the  Flatterer,  and  told  them  of  his  and  their  sufferings  ; 
but  they  understood  him  not,  and  began  to  be  filled  with 
pride,  reasoning  who  should  be  the  greatest,  and  with 
spiritual  pride,  undertaking  to  forbid  those  whom  they 
found  casting  out  devils  in  the  name  of  Christ,  because 
they  would  not  or  did  not  follow  with  them,  and  under- 
taking also  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  destroy  the 
Samaritans,  because  they  would  not  receive  Christ  into 
their  city.  Here  was  pride,  bigotry,  and  intolerance  all 
following  close  upon  the  great  revelation  of  glory  they 
had  had  in"  the  Mount.  Here  was  the  Flatterer  in  their 
own  hearts,  entangling  them  in  his  net,  and  he  would  have 
destroyed  them,  had  it  not  been  for  the  merciful  chastising 
and  sanctifying  hand  of  their  great  Deliverer. 

Their  experience  on  the  Mount,  and  their  experience 
afterwards,  are  equally  instructive.  It  was  night  when 
they  ascended  the  mountain,  and  arrived  at  the  place  of 
Transfiguration.  There  our  Blessed  Lord  engaged  in 
prayer,  the  work  for  which  he  had  chosen  that  spot  and 
ascended  to  it.  He  had  taken  Peter  and  James  and  John, 
and  went  up  into  a  mountain  to  pray.  As  he  prayed,  the 
disciples  grew  heavy  with  sleep.  Christ  wrestled  in 
prayer,  but  they,  instead  of  watching  with  him,  yielded 
themselves  up  to  slumber.  And  still  Christ  prayed,  and 
still  the  disciples  slept.  They  slept  perhaps  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  interview  and  conversation  with  Moses 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     339 

and  Elias.  They  saw  not  the  coming  on  of  that  glory, 
they  heard  not  the  mysteries  of  those  hours  of  such  dis- 
course among  the  inhabitants  of  heaven.  And  had  they 
continued  to  slumber,  they  had  lost  the  whole  of  the  amaz- 
ing vision.  But  our  Blessed  Lord  would  not  leave  them 
to  such  a  loss  ;  the  sight  was  especially  intended  for  them 
also,  as  the  conversation  had  been  especially  for  himself 
and  his  own  purposes  of  glory  ;  and  so  his  divine  gracious 
providence  ordered  that  the  heaviness  of  their  slumber 
should  depaf  t  from  them ;  and  when  they  were  awake, 
they  saw  his  glory,  and  the  two  men  that  stood  with  him. 
They  awaked,  and  found  themselves,  as  it  were,  in  heaven  ; 
the  light  of  heaven  shining  around  them,  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven  standing  with  them,  and  the  glory  of  their 
Divine  Redeemer  revealed  as  in  the  Celestial  World. 

Now  there  is  in  all  this  so  much  instruction  both  as  to 
what  we  may  lose  by  spiritual  slumbers,  and  as  to  what 
we  may  gain  by  spiritual  watchfulness,  that  we  might 
almost  conceive  the  scene  to  have  been  arranged,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  disciples  to  have  been  permitted,  as  an 
emblem  or  prediction  of  the  experience  of  the  Church  of 
Christ ;  a  warning  against  spiritual  indolence,  and  an  en- 
couragement to  watching  unto  prayer.  The  situation  of 
these  disciples,  sleeping  amidst  so  much  glory,  and  uncon- 
scious while  such  wonderful  transactions  were  taking  place 
around  them,  is  but  an  emblem  of  our  ordinary  insen- 
sibility to  the  glory  of  the  Saviour  and  the  realities  of  the 
invisible  world.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  universe  of 
wonders  all  around  us,  almost  materially  touching  upon 
us,  crowding  towards  us,  as  it  were,  for  our  notice  ;  but 
the  eye  of  the  soul  may  be  closed,  and  they  may  be  all 
unheeded,  and  we  as  unconscious  of  them  as  if  they  ex- 
isted not.  The  Transfiguration  of  Christ  may  be  going 
on,  and  Moses  and  Elias  appearing  in  glory  and  talking 
with  him,  and  we  may  know  it  not,  though  the  scene  be 
taking  place  where  we  are  reclining  in  our  slumbers. 
There  may  be,  and  there  are,  spiritual  truths  revealed  in 


340  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

the  Lord's  Supper,  and  transactions  here  taking  place,  the 
glory  of  which  is  like  a  Transfiguration,  and  in  reality  not 
inferior  to  it,  but  which  our  insensible  soul  no  more  sees 
or  feels,  than  a  blind  man  sees  the  gl^ry  of  the  sun  when 
shining  at  noon-day.  And  all  around  us,  continually,  there 
are  truths  of  such  transcendent  importance  and  glory 
radiating  upon  us,  that  if  we  kept  a  wakeful  eye  upon 
them,  we  could  be  sensible  to  the  importance  of  nothing 
else ;  we  should  find  ourselves,  like  Peter,  James,  and  John, 
in  the  midst  of  a  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  the  glory  of 
which,  until  we  became  accustomed  to  it,  would  almost 
deprive  us  of  the  calm  use  of  our  senses,  and  make  us  act 
as  if  bewildered  with  excess  of  light.  Our  insensibility 
to  these  realities  does  not  prevent  their  existence,  though 
it  loses  for  us  their  power  over  us,  cuts  them  oft'  from  us, 
and  forms,  as  it  were,  a  vacuum  between  our  souls,  and  the 
things  that  surround  us,  but  touch  us  not. 

The  influence  of  this  insensibility  is  beyond  description 
disastrous,  for  it  is  only  by  the  touch,  the  sense, "the  sight, 
the  feeling  of  these  realities,  that  we  have  any  power  over 
the  world  of  sense  around  us,  only  by  the  sight  and  sense 
of  these  things  that  we  are  kept  from  the  dream  of  atheism 
and  the  sleep  of  death  ;  only  thus  that  we  can  be  quickened 
with  impulses  that  impel  us  towards  heaven  and  God,  that 
make  us  fervent  in  prayer,  or  active  in  effort.  If  we  lose 
sight  of  these  great  things  that  are  taking  place  around  us, 
we  sink  to  the  level  of  the  brutes,  and  lose  our  souls.  We 
vegetate  merely,  a  life  of  flesh,  heightened  and  dignified 
somewhat  by  intelligence,  but  still  an  earthly,  degraded, 
miserable  life  of  sense,  and  if  a  life  of  the  mind  at  all, 
only  of  the  carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God. 
This  is  the  condition  of  the  whole  world  in  their  insensi- 
bility to  God  and  divine  things. 

Now  in  the  midst  of  this  insensibility,  God  has  taken 
out  of  the  world  a  church,  and  carried  its  members  up  into 
a  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  and  there  unsealed  their  eyes 
from  slumber,  and  poured  upon  them  the  glories  of  the 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     341 

unseen  world,  and  the  light  of  the  presence  of  the  Saviour. 
He  has  done  this,  that  from  that  Mount  of  Transfiguration 
by  divine  truth,  of  the  realization  of  heavenly  things,  they 
may  go  down  again  into  the  world  thus  awakened  and 
filled  with  celestial  activity  and  power,  to  rouse  up  its 
slumbering  inhabitants,  and  carry  them  up  also  into  the 
Mount  to  behold  the  Saviour.  The  activity  and  power  of 
the  Church  depend  upon  her  wakefulness  in  the  Mount, 
the  strength  of  her  faith,  the  manner  in  which  she  beholds 
and  lives  upon  the  glories  that  surround  her.  But  Chris- 
tians, in  the  Church  and  on  the  Mount,  may  be  slumbering, 
and  may  slumber  through  whole  scenes  of  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Saviour's  glory ;  and  in  such  a  case  they  lose 
the  enjoyment  and  the  efficacy  of  Christian  experience, 
they  are  cut  off  from  the  sources  of  power  and  comfort  in 
the  divine  life.  Though  upon  the  Mount,  they  see  no 
more  nor  better  than  the  world  below  them,  and  have  lost 
the  electric  impulses  they  should  have  gained  to  carry 
with  them  to  rouse  up  the  people  of  a  world  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins.  To  see  Christ's  glory,  to  feel  the  power 
of  it,  to  have  a  sense  of  his  preciousness,  and  to  carry  it 
with  them,  to  have  heaven  opened,  and  the  promises 
realized,  to  see  and  feel  the  air  of  heaven  around  them, 
and  its  inhabitants,  and  its  blissful  pursuits,  and  the  crown 
of  glory,  and  themselves  advancing  to  it,  they  must  be 
awake  and  watchful ;  they  must  be  praying  with  Christ, 
not  yielding  to  indolence,  if  they  would  behold  the  fashion 
of  his  countenance,  and  his  raiment  white  as  snow,  and 
the  beings  in  glory  talking  with  him.  When  that  is  the 
case,  then  they  have  power  ;  then  all  Christian  privileges, 
the  Word  of  God,  the  Sabbath,  the  place  of  social  prayer, 
the  blessed  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  are  as  mounts 
of  prospect  to  the  soul ;  the  things  of  heaven  are  realized, 
the  soul  mounts  up  on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love,  there  is 
not  only  a  beholding  of  Christ  in  his  transfiguration,  but  a 
transfiguration  of  the  soul  itself,  a  change  into  the  same 
image,  an  investiture  of  it  with  power  and  glory,  and  an 


342  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

energizing  of  it  with  the  influence  of  the  unseen  world, 
that  carries  it  through  this  world,  shooting  an  awakening 
impulse  upon  the  souls  of  men  in  every  direction. 

Thus  the  admission  to  these 'scenes)  of  transfiguration  is 
an  arrangement  at  once  of  mercy  to  Chris-t's  disciples,  to 
their  own  souls,  for  their  own  strength,  comfort,  and  sanc- 
tification,  and,  not  only  so,  but  of  mercy  and  salvation  to 
others  through  them,  and  of  the  increase  of  their  useful- 
ness. As  the  Spirit  of  God  takes  of  the  things  which  are 
Christ's  and  imparts  them  to  the  soul,  so  the  disciples  of 
Christ  take  the  things  thus  imparted,  the  truth  in  the 
reality,  the  experience,  the  power,  and  glory  of  it,  and 
communicate  it  to  the  world,  pour  it  upon  the  minds  of 
men,  act  upon  them  with  it,  to  awaken  them  and  bring 
them  to  repentance.  Hence  the  unspeakable  importance 
of  a  clear  view  and  vivid  sense  of  divine  things  in  the 
hearts  of  Christians.  For  the  sake  of  others,  for  the  sake 
of  a  dying  world,  they  need  to  keep  the  flame  of  piety 
brightly  burning.  They  should  labor  after  a  deep  experi- 
ence in  the  things  of  God,  in  order  that  they  may  have 
power  over  others.  For  the  truth  coming  from  a  soul  that 
speaks  from  experience,  is  entirely  a  different  thing  from 
even  the  same  truth  borrowed  from  the  experience  of 
others,  and  uttered  only  at  second-hand.  It  has  a  thrilling, 
awakening,  decisive  power,  when  poured  fresh  from  one 
soul  upon  another,  from  a  soul  where  the  Spirit  of  God 
abides,  upon  a  soul  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  It  has  the 
life-giving  power  of  God's  own  Word,  when  it  comes  from 
a  soul  whose  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

Now  all  the  privileges  of  Christ's  people,  all  the  sacred 
visions  of  the  divine  glory  in  him,  to  which  they  are 
admitted,  all  the  precious  ordinances  of  his  gospel,  all  the 
mounts  of  grace  and  spiritual  revelation  up  which  they 
are  carried  with  it  in  prayer,  are  intended  to  give  power 
to  his  Word  in  and  through  them,  to  deepen  their  experi- 
ence of  its  reality  and  omnipotence,  to  baptize  them  in 
its  fire,  and  to  prepare  them  to  apply  the  same  fire  to  the 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     343 

souls  of  their  fellow  men.  This  was  one  great  object  of 
our  Blessed  Lord  in  causing  Peter,  James,  and  John  to 
behold  his  glory  in  the  Mount.  This  was  one  great  reason 
why  Paul  was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven.  This  is 
one  heavenly  purpose  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  is  an 
ordinance  of  comfort,  of  enjoyment,  of  sanctification  to 
his  saints,  but  not  for  their  personal  benefit  merely.  It  is 
that  they  may  be  strengthened  for  their  duties  to  others ; 
that  they  may  here  go  up  into  the  Mount,  and  behold  such 
a  view  of  Christ's  glory,  that  when  they  go  down  into  the 
world,  they  may  go  fired  with  the  sight,  lifted  up  above 
the  world  by  it,  and  by  communion  with  Christ,  and  with 
the  blessed  society  of  Moses  and  Elias  in  such  communion, 
and  prepared  to  walk  faithfully  in  its  remembrance  many 
days  of  their  pilgrimage.  For  this  heavenly  result  they 
must  be  awake ;  they  must  watch  beforehand,  and  watch 
and  pray  while  on  the  Mount,  and  supplicate  the  precious 
Redeemer,  who  has  brought  them  hither,  to  hold  their 
eyes  waking,  to  pour  upon  them  his  Spirit,  to  quicken 
their  faith,  and  to  instruct  them  anew  in  the  mysteries  and 
powers  of  Redemption.  And  while  the  talk  here  upon 
the  Mount  is  concerning  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ, 
concerning  his  decease  which  he  must  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem,  the  prayer  of  the  soul  must  be  that  the  same 
love  that  bore  on  our  Saviour  to  those  sufferings,  may 
baptize  and  fill  our  souls,  that  we  may  be  ready,  with 
something  of  the  same  Spirit,  to  engage  in  labor,  and  bear, 
if  need  be,  suffering  and  trial  for  Christ. 


• 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

Faith's  Vision  continued. — Faith  passing  into  Love. — Self  put  out  by  letting 
Christ  in. — Object  of  the  appeals  to  Self  in  the  Gospel. 

SUFFERING  for  Christ,  self-denial  for  Christ,  duty  done  for 
Christ,  all  these  things  suppose  Christ  in  the  soul  the  hope 
of  glory,  and  can  come  from  nothing  else.  The  spiritual 
sight  and  the  spiritual  life  of  faith,  the  eye  single,  and  the 
daily  simple  following  of  Christ,  are  the  result  only  of 
Christ  reigning  in  the  soul ;  self,  and  all  things  connected 
with  it,  being  given  up  to  Him.  A  mighty  work,  a  mighty 
victory,  a  mighty  principle  is  this,  yea,  a  work  of  Omni- 
potent Grace,  Omniscient  Wisdom,  and  Infinite  Love. 

Here  we  must  look  again  to  our  foundations,  putting  up 
the  prayer  of  David,  Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my 
heart,  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts,  and  see  if  there  be 
any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting. 
Here  there  is  imminent  danger  of  self-deception  ;  here 
many  souls  make  shipwreck,  having  self  in  the  soul  instead 
of  Christ,  the  hope  of  glory. 

For  it  is  manifest  that  a  man  may,  without  confiding  in 
Christ,  and  yielding  up  all  to  him,  be  very  anxious  about 
his  eternal  interests,  and  very  much  intent  upon  securing 
heaven.  He  may  be  merely  a  self-seeker  for  the  world  to 
come  as  well  as  this  world  ;  he  may  have  self  entirely, 
and  nothing  but  self,  in  view,  for  that  world  as  well  as  this. 
Believing  in  all  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  all  the  truths 
of  religion,  and  perhaps  especially  affected  by  those  which 


GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL,  &C.    345 

relate  to  a  future  judgment  and  endless  retribution,  he 
may  encompass  all  these  truths  and  anxieties  with  self 
alone, — the  idea  of  self,  the  atmosphere  of  self,  regard  to 
self.  Believing  in  the  dread  attributes,  the  majesty,  the 
holiness,  the  glory  of  God,  his  only  regard  to  God  may  be 
a  supremely  selfish  regard  to  his  own  eternal  happiness. 
This  is  a  wide  sweep  for  self  to  take  ;  and  the  great 
majority  of  mankind  undoubtedly  limit  their  selfishness  to 
the  things  of  this  Hfe,  because  they  care  nothing  about 
anything  else,  are  insensible  to  all  eternal  realities,  and 
have  neither  the  desire,  nor  ever  make  the  attempt,  to 
secure  the  favor  of  God. 

Now  there  is  no  doubt  that  a  certain  regard  to  self  is 
proper,  being  a  constitutional  and  inevitable  part  of  our 
existence  as  created  beings.  If,  for  example,  to  love  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves  be  duty,  then  to  love  ourselves  as 
our  neighbor  is  equally  duty.  But  a  supreme  regard  to 
self  is  an  infinite  perversion  and  depravity.  It  is  indeed 
the  very  fountain  and  essence  of  depravity.  If  a  man's 
regard  to  self  is  entirely  subservient  to  God,  and  to  God's 
will,  he  is  holy.  But  if  it  be  supreme,  then  he  sets  up  self 
in  place  of  God,  superior  to  God,  and  would  have  God 
exist  and  govern  only  as  a  servant  to  self,  only  as  a  means 
of  happiness.  On  this  foundation  there  is  in  the  world  a 
self-seeking  religion,  as  well  as  a  self-forgetting  and  self- 
renouncing  one.  And  though  the  very  idea  of  religion 
contained  in  the  word  itself,  is  that  of  being  bound  to 
God,  yet  there  are  religions  which  only  bind  God  to  self. 

But  God  cannot  be  bound  to  self  in  our  religious 
interests,  any  more  than  in  our  worldly  interests.  The 
declaration  of  Christ  in  regard  to  the  selfishness  of  our 
nature,  that  he  that  seeketh  his  life  shall  lose  it,  applies 
more  profoundly  and  absolutely  in  religion  than  anywhere 
else.  He  who  will  keep  his  life  in  his  own  hands,  and  not 
trust  it  to  Christ,  he  who  wrill  make  his  own  happiness  his 
supreme  end,  and  will  not  trust  that  happiness  to  Christ, 
nor  make  Christ's  will  his  happiness,  and  duty  to  God  his 

15* 


346  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

aim,  he,  seeking  only  to  save  his  life,  shall  lose  it.  He 
who  has  no  aim  in  religion  higher  than  self,  shall  lose  self. 

But  you  will  say,  Are  not  the  hope  of  heaven  and  the 
fear  of  hell  appealed  to  continually  jin  the  Word  of  God, 
and  does  not  the  Apostle  say,  that  knowing,  the  terrors  of 
the  Lord  we  persuade  men,  and  is  it  not  incontrovertible 
that  God  himself  commands  us  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come,  and  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  us,  and  to 
give  all  diligence  to  make  our  calling  and  election  sure  ? 
And  does  he  not  tell  us  with  encouragement,  to  abound  in 
all  the  Christian  graces  and  virtues,  for  that  so  doing  an 
entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto  us  abundantly  into  the 
everlasting  kingdom  of  the  Lord  ?  No  doubt  he  does. 
All  this  is  perfectly  plain,  and  it  is  every  man's  unquestion- 
able duty  to  desire  and  seek  his  salvation  above  all  things. 
But  he  is  to  seek  it  in  Christ,  and  when  there  is  no  love 
of  God  in  the  soul,  it  is  manifest  that  the  hope  of  heaven 
and  the  fear  of  hell  are  merely  selfish.  They  may  be  the 
beginning  of  good,  the  first  impulse  towards  holiness,  but 
they  are  not,  and  cannot  be,  holiness  in  themselves.  If  the 
hope  of  heaven  and  the  fear  of  hell  constituted  holiness, 
then  all  mankind  would  be  holy,  even  in  their  sins.  But 
the  hope  of  heaven  and  the  fear  of  hell  are  the  motives  in 
man's  ruined  nature,  which  God  in  mercy  lays  hold  upon 
by  his  Holy  Spirit  to  raise  the  soul  to  holiness  and  life  in 
Christ.  A  man  awakened  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  made 
sensible  of  eternal  realities  and  of  his  own  guilt,  fears  hell 
and  desires  heaven,  and  this  impulse  makes  him  flee  to 
Christ  to  be  saved  from  hell  and  prepared  for  heaven. 
This  is  the  true  representation,  in  which  the  great 
master  of  the  human  heart,  as  sanctified  by  grace,  has 
presented  his  Christian,  awakened  at  first  in  the  City  of 
Destruction,  and  flying  from  the  wrath  to  come.  But  he 
is  no  Christian,  till  he  is  in  Christ. 

Now  this  desire  of  heaven  and  fear  of  hell,  stopping 
short  of  Christ,  or  setting  the  soul  in  any  other  direction 
than  that  towards  Christ,  may  produce  a  merely  selfish 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     347 

religion,  instead  of  a  religion  of  gratitude  and  love.  If 
the  soul  set  out  to  save  itself,  instead  of  casting  all  on 
Christ,  if  it  labor  after  a  garment  of  morality  or  of  good 
feelings,  in  which  to  be  accepted  of  Christ,  it  is  endeavor- 
ing to  make  a  selfish  purchase  of  heaven,  instead  of  being 
willing  to  owe  everything,  as  a  guilty,  worthless,  dying 
sinner,  to  the  free,  unbought  mercy  of  the  Saviour.  If,  as 
Bunyan  describes  this  delusion,  the  soul  takes  up  with  the 
advice  of  Mr.  Worldly  Wiseman,  and  applies  for  teaching 
and  relief  to  the  ministry  of  Legality,  in  the  town  of 
Carnal  Policy,  it  will  remain  in  its  native  selfishness  and 
corruption,  whatever  it  may  think  it  has  experienced  of 
the  power,  or  manifested  of  the  fruits,  of  true  piety.  And 
in  truth  the  fruits  of  a  self-seeking  religion  may  be  very 
like  those  of  a  self- forgetting  religion.  If  a  man  be  under 
a  system  where  penance,  and  tithes,  and  alms-giving,  and 
fasting,  and  self-mortification,  and  will-worship  are  enjoined 
as  the  sure  purchase  of  heaven,  and  the  conscience  under 
condemnation  of  God's  law  is  stirred  up  in  anguish  and 
fear,  then  the  desire'  for  safety  and  peace  of  conscience 
may  work  miracles  of  morality  and  of  self-denial,  miracles 
of  poverty,  self-chosen,  miracles  of  alms-giving  and  the 
washing  of  the  feet  of  the  poor,  all  to  gain  the  security  of 
heaven.  V 

But  this  is  the  sinful,  selfish  man,  seeking  his  life  to  lose 
it.  This  is  self-justification,  the  attempt  to  create  merit 
out  of  nothing  but  sin.  It  is  building  on  false  capital,  a 
spiritual  speculation,  which  is  a  greater  and  infinitely  more 
disastrous  bubble  than  the  South  Sea  scheme.  It  is  the 
circulation  of  bad  money,  of  forged  notes.  It  is  counter- 
feit piety.  It  may  have  cost  an  immense  deal  to  produce 
it,  as  indeed  all  good  counterfeits  are  costly,  but  notwith- 
standing this,  it  is  all  condemned.  We  have  dwelt  upon 
this  before,  but  it  deserves  looking  at  again  in  the  present 
connexion.  Men  who  see  not  as  God  seeth  may  wonder 
that  it  should  be  condemned.  Looking,  for  example,  on 
such  self-denying  scrupulosity  and  painful  holiness  and 


348  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

self-mortification  as  that  of  Luther  in  his  cell,  while  he 
was  yet  a  stranger  to  Christ  and  true  piety,  men  may  think 
it  strange  and  hard  that  such  incessant  agonizing  efforts 
should  not  prevail,  that  such  unexampled  strictness  of 
morality,  and  fastings  and  prayers  and  external  goodness, 
should  not  be  accepted.  But  with  all  its  cost,  it  is  worth- 
less, counterfeit,  condemned.  There  might  be  an  establish- 
ment for  coining  base  money  which  should  cost  incalculably 
more  than  all  the  arrangements  for  the  pursuit  of  any 
honest  branch  of  trade  on  the  largest  scale,  but  neither 
the  costliness  of  the  establishment,  nor  the  perfection  with 
which  its  processes  were  executed,  could  prevent  the  con- 
demnation of  the  coin.  And  just  so,  though  this  morality 
and  religion  of  penance  and  voluntary  humility  and  will- 
worship  costs  an  immensity  of  self-denial  and  self-abnega- 
tion, and  employs  the  highest  virtues  and  most  resolute 
purposes  of  the  human  mind  surviving  the  ruins  of  the 
fall,  yet  that  cannot  make  it  true  money,  cannot  prevent 
its  being  condemned.  Although  in  part  it  be  made  up  of 
material,  which,  if  it  had  the  right  stamp,  if  it  were  coined 
in  the  king's  mint,  would  be  admirable,  yet  being  mixed 
with  base  alloy  and  forged,  and  being  stamped  for  self  and 
not  God,  it  is  spurious,  sinful,  and  must  be  rejected.  No 
matter  what  the  virtue,  the  morality,  the  self-denial,  the 
apparent  holiness  may  be,  if  manufactured  for  self,  as  a 
passport  to  heaven,  it  is  against  the  very  law  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  which  admits  no  man.  but  merely  as  a  lost 
sinner,  with  nothing  of  his  own  but  guilt,  nothing  in  him- 
self that  can  gain  heaven,  and  admits  the  believing  soul 
not  even  on  the  ground  of  faith  and  love,  but  solely  on  the 
ground  of  Christ's  righteousness  and  mercy,  on  the  ground 
of  God's  unpurchased  love  in  Christ.  So  that  even  love 
itself  and  faith  itself,  if  you  could  suppose  them  to  be 
brought  as  a  work,  a  merit,  a  purchase,  a  passport  of  the 
sinner's  virtue,  would  lose  their  righteous,  disinterested 
nature,  and  would  be  spoiled  and  worthless,  being  but 
another  form,  though  the  most  concealed  and  subtle  form, 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     349 

of  self-love  and  self-reliance.  If  you  would  be  saved  and 
be  perfect,  you  must  trust  Christ  for  all,  must  throw 
yourself  on  him  for  all,  as  a  mere  guilty,  death-deserving 
sinner,  deserving  of  death,  even  though  believing  ;  and  with 
neither  love  nor  faith  nor  works  as  a  ground  of  pardon,  or 
title  to  mercy,  or  assurance  of  heaven,  but  merely  and 
submissively  throwing  yourself  on  Christ,  forgetting 
everything  but  submission,  but  duty,  but  love,  but  Christ, 
losing  sight  of  self,  forgetting  self,  losing  self  and  self- 
anxiety  in  the  sweetness  of  submission,  in  the  happiness 
of  trusting  in  Christ.  • 

This  simple,  single-eyed,  self-forgetting  submission  and 
trust,  is  love,  is  faith,  is  obedience,  is  works,  is  true  piety, 
all  in  one,  and  one  in  all ;  Christ  being  the  soul  and  end  of 
all,  and  all  being  the  result  of  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Now  the  motives  of  the  gospel,  as  ap- 
plied to  self,  are  applied  simply  to  bring  self  to  Christ,  that 
this  wondrous,  heavenly  change  from  selfishness  to  love 
may  be  wrought  in  him.  The  desire  of  happiness,  the 
hope  of  heaven,  the  fear  of  hell,  so  far  as  they  are  not  the 
product  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  causing  the  soul  to  long  after 
him,  are  mere  levers,  as  it  were,  put  beneath  our  fallen 
nature  to  pry  it  up  and  throw  it  over  upon  Christ.  God 
uses  them  as  the  mere  helps  of  our  infirmities,  not  as  any- 
thing holy  in  themselves.  He  who  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance,  deals  with  us,  and 
condescends  towards  us,  not  as  holy  beings,  but  as  sinful ; 
otherwise,  we  could  never  be  saved.  And  always  these 
motives  are  to  our  regenerated  but  partially  sanctified 
being  only  as  the  crutches  which  a  lame  man  leans  upon, 
till  he  may  get  the  use  of  his  limbs,  but  throws  them 
entirely  aside  when  he  recovers.  No  man  in  health  uses 
them.  Just  so  it  is  in  heavenly  things.  The  saints  in 
glory  have  no  need  of  these  crutches.  The  angels  have 
no  need  of  them.  There,  everything  is  done  from  love, 
not  self.  None  but  fallen  beings  have  need  of  them. 
Tell  a  saint  in  glory  that  such  or  such  thing  is  duty, 


350  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  you  will  constrain  him  more  certainly  and  more 
instantly,  than  telling  him  that  such  a  thing  is  for  his 
comfort.  Or  tell  him  that  love  requires  such  a  thing,  and 
it  will  be  gotten  of  him  more  surely  Uhan  if  you  could  tell 
him  that  his  own  interests  require  it.  But  here  in  our 
world  of  sin,  amidst  imperfection,  temptation,  and  partial 
sanctification,  mixed  motives  have  to  be  relied  upon,  and 
mixed  considerations  and  appeals,  made  up  both  of  respect 
to  self  and  God. 

But  it  is  the  glory  of  the  gospel  that  in  its  perfection  it 
frees  the  soul  from  this-entanglement  of  motive,  and  makes 
the  regenerated  being  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus ;  old 
things  are  done  away,  all  things  are  made  new,  and  all 
things  are  of  God,  not  of  self,  and  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of 
life  in  Christ  Jesus  sets  the  soul  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  of  death.  And  when  a  man's  desire  of  happiness  and 
heaven  turns  not  so  much  upon  selfish  expectation,  as 
upon  the  love  of  God  and  the  desire  of  holiness,  when  it 
rises  from  self  into  God,  and  when  his  fear  of  hell  and  his 
dread  of  the  loss  of  heaven  is  not  so  much  his  fear  of 
punishment  as  his  hatred  of  sin,  and  his  dread  of  being 
left  under  its  dominion,  and  his  sorrow  and  wretchedness 
at  the  thought  of  being  banished  from  God's  presence ; — 
when  his  desire  of  safety  and  happiness  is  overtopped  by 
his  hungerings  and  thirstings  after  righteousness,  when  he 
can  say  with  David,  My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  as  the  hart 
panteth  after  the  water-brook  ;  whom  have  I  in  heaven  but 
thee,  and  there  is  none  upon  the  earth  that  I  desire  besides 
thee  ?  ah,  then,  the  appeals  to  self  are  no  longer  responded 
to  by  selfishness,  but  holy  love  ;  they  are  as  pure  as  the 
love  of  God  is  pure ;  they  are  as  holy  as  the  motives  set 
before  the  angels  in  heaven.  Such  a  man  desires  heaven 
and  hates  hell,  because  he  loves  God  and  hates  sin  ;  and  the 
appeal  to  such  love  and  such  hatred  is  not  an  appeal  to 
selfishness  but  to  holiness. 

We  see  then  plainly  that  holiness  is  a  thing  that  grows 
only  in  proportion  as  the  soul  loses  sight  of  self  and  is 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     351 

absorbed  in  God  ;  and  we  see  that  the  only  way  in  which 
a  man  can  lose  sight  of  self,  have  self  put  under  and  hid- 
den from  him,  is  to  come  to  God,  and  have  the  glory  and 
the  love  of  God  absorb  him,  being  revealed  to  him  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  easy  to  conquer  self,  when 
Christ  and  his  glory  fill  the  heart ;  impossible  when  the 
heart  is  not  filled  with  and  fixed  on  Christ.  If  Christ  and 
heaven  do  not  fill  the  heart,  the  world  and  self  will ;  no 
man  can  get  self  out,  but  by  letting  Christ  in  ;  you  cannot 
possibly  remove  the  darkness,  but  by  letting  in  the  light ; 
and  where  this  heavenly  light  is  not  admitted  to  reign, 
spiritual  depravity  and  darkness  will  reign.  When  a 
strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  house,  his  goods  are  in 
peace  ;  it  may  be  stolen  goods,  as  those  of  Satan  are  in 
us ;  and  Satan  is  the  strong  man  armed,  in  possession  of 
our  souls,  which  he  keeps  in  peace  as  his  goods,  though  it 
is  only  the  peace  of  spiritual  death,  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
darkness,  fires,  and  chains  of  his  own  prison,  unless  Christ 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  soul.  But  when  he  does  come, 
when  a  stronger  than  self  and  Satan  shall  come  upon  him 
and  overcome  him,  he  laketh  from  him  all  his  armor  wherein 
he  trusted,  and  divideth  his  spoils.  So  it  is  with  Christ 
against  self  and  Satan  in  the  soul ;  and  this  is  the  only 
way  in  which  self  can  be  overcome,  by  Christ  entering 
and  reigning. 

Here  again  we  see  plainly  that  happiness  is  a  thing  that 
comes  only  of  love.  God  himself  is  happy,  because  God 
is  love.  Self-denial  is  happiness,  where  there  is  love. 
Labor  is  happiness,  where  there  is  love.  This  is  a  lesson 
we  must  learn  before  we  can  be  fitted  for  heaven.  We 
must  lose  self  in  Christ.  We  must  lose  our  life,  let  it  go, 
let  self  go,  be  content  that  anything  should  happen  to  it, 
care  nothing  about  it,  and  then  we  save  it ; — or  rather, 
Christ  saves  it  for  us,  Christ  gives  it  back  to  us,  Christ 
gives  himself  to  us  as  a  new  self,  takes  up  his  dwelling  in 
us  as  the  self  of  self,  the  soul  of  our  souls,  the  object  and 
end  of  everything,  and  then  we  are  happy.  In  this  life 


352  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

we  must  learn,  as  in  a  storm,  to  throw  self  overboard,  and 
then  the  ship  is  safe.  Where  Christ  abides  and  reigns, 
there  is  nothing  but  peace  and  happiness.  Thou  wilt  keep 
him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  soul  is  stayed  on  thee,  because 
he  trusteth  in  thee.  This  humble,  unquestioning,  submis- 
sive confidence  in  Christ  is  the  reign  of  Christ.  It  is  the 
leaving  of  everything*  with  Christ,  and  the  seeking  to  do 
his  will. 

But  to  do  this,  to  get  rid  of  self  in  this  manner,  we  must 
come  to  Christ  only.  We  cannot  do  this,  establish  this 
victory,  of  ourselves.  If  Christ  does  not  reign,  self  will 
reign.  There  is,  moreover,  a  counterfeit  of  this  losing 
sight  of  self,  without  Christ ;  but  it  is  all  vain,  no  better 
than  before,  counterfeit  money.  It  may  cost  much,  and 
men  may  look  upon  it  as  very  precious  coin,  but  it  is 
worthless  apart  from  Christ.  Any  one  might  think  that 
a  man  taking  a  vow  of  perpetual  poverty,  and  going  about 
in  hospitals  and  prisons,  to  feed  the  sick,  to  watch  beside 
the  dying,  had  thoroughly  abnegated  himself,  lost  sight  of 
self.  But  no,  not  unless  Christ  be  there.  If  Christ  be  not 
there,  such  abnegation  of  self  is  only  a  more  perfect 
exaltation  of  self,  a  subtle  form  of  self-seeking  and  of 
pride.  If  such  abnegation  be  done  out  of  love,  done  for 
Christ,  then  indeed  it  is  goodness  ;  but  if  from  an  eye  to 
reward,  if  to  be  seen  of  men,  if  from  the  terrors  of  an 
angry  conscience,  then  there  is  no  soundness  in  it. 

Men  have  sometimes  committed  crimes,  for  which  they 
have  condemned  themselves  to  years  of  penance,  and  have 
grone  about  the  world  apparently  dead  to  the  world,  because 
the  fire  within  them  has  calcined  the  temptations  without. 
The  fire  within  them  has  burned  up  the  delusions  of  the 
world  and  of  sense  around  them,  and  made  self-denial 
itself  an  intense  though  delusive  relief,  delusive,  because 
not  united  with  Christ,  not  practised  for  Christ,  but  really 
for  self.  Undoubtedly,  in  this  way  there  may  be  much 
apparent  virtue  manufactured  by  sin,  and  much  deliver- 
ance from  sin  effected  by  selfishness.  On  the  prairies  it  is 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     353 

said  that  the  Indians,  when  caught  by  a  fire,  when  the 
roaring  sound  of  a  fire  sweeping  towards  them  is  heard, 
just  light  a  fire  themselves  in  the  centre  where  they  are, 
and  fire  meets  fire,  so  that  they  stand  unscathed  by  the 
danger.  Just  so  it  may  be  with  human  passion.  Passion 
against  passion  is  strong.  Many  a  man  has  escaped  the 
fires  of  intemperance  and  sensuality  consuming  others 
around  him,  only  because  he  had  lighted  another  fire,  the 
fire  of  another  ruling  passion  in  his  soul.  And  so  the  fire 
of  an  angry  conscience  may  burn  up  everything  around 
it,  and  produce  marvels  of  apparent  self-denial  and  con- 
quest over  sin,  and  yet  not  bring  the  soul  to  Christ,  but 
rather  leave  it  like  a  blasted  heath  in  the  desert.  Now  on 
the  other  hand,  if  the  fire  of  Christ's  love  be  lighted  in  the 
soul,  not  only  will  the  fires  of  temptation  and  of  sinful 
passion  go  out,  but  the  fruits  of  real  holiness,  the  fruits  of 
love  will  abound,  and  the  soul  will  be  like  a  watered 
garden,  and  Christ's  love  like  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the  midst 
of  it.  What  a  mistake  do  men  make  in  the  attempt  to 
produce  holiness  without  coming  to  Christ !  It  is  painful 
effort,  that  ends  in  vanity  and  painfulness.  As  the  prophet 
says,  it  is  ploughing  upon  the  rock,  it  is  gathering  wages  to 
put  them  into  a  bag  with  holes,  it  is  feeding  on  the  wind, 
and  following  after  the  East  wind.  There  can  be  neither 
freedom,  nor  peace,  nor  the  fruits  of  genuine  piety,  away 
from  Christ,  but  nothing  but  bondage  and  fear. 

Joy  is  a  fruit  that  will  not  grow 

In  nature's  barren  soil ; 
All  we  can  boast,  till  Christ  we  know, 

Is  vanity  and  toil. 

O  that  God  would  impress  this  lesson  upon  us  !  It  ^ 
worth  thousands  of  gold  and  silver,  this  deep  sense  of  our 
own  poverty,  helplessness,  guilt,  and  misery  out  of  Christ. 
The  knowledge  of  his  own  poverty  that  a  righteous  man 
,  hath  is  better  than  the  riches  of  many  wicked.  Indeed, 
the  sense  of  our  vanity,  sinfulness,  and  misery  out  of 


354      GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL. 

Christ  is  itself  great  riches.  If  out  of  this  vanity  and 
poverty  you  would  rise  into  the  riches  of  eternity,  come 
to  Christ.  If  out  of  this  bondage  of  sin  you  would  rise 
into  the  liberty  of  holiness,  come  to  Christ.  If  from  this 
prison  of  selfishness,  where  your  soul  is  rusting  in  chains 
for  the  Judgment  of  the  Great  Day,  you  would  go  forth  at 
large  into  the  air  of  love  and  heaven,  come  to  Christ.  If 
in  the  Judgment  of  the  Great  Day  you  would  stand  safe 
and  happy,  with  heaven  within  your  soul,  Come  to  Christ ! 

O  save  me  from  myself,  Saviour  Divine ! 
Then  only  I'm  redeemed,  when  I  am  thine. 
Turn  Thou  mine  eye,  my  heart,  my  life  to  Thee, 
That  even  in  self,  Christ  only  I  may  see. 

Fain  would  I  make  my  Lord  my  only  aim, 
In  all  pursuits  still  think  on  his  dear  name, 
For  Him  prepare  my  soul,  from  sin  forbear, 
Aspire  to  Heaven,  because  rny  Lord  is  there. 

Lord,  Thou  canst  conquer  self,  but  Thou  alone  ! 
Set  up  within  my  soul  thy  glorious  throne ; 
Let  every  thought,  wish,  expectation  be 
Brought  in  subjection,  by  thy  love,  to  Thee. 

Then  will  I  flee  on  angels'  wings  abroad, 
All  care  dismissed  but  just  to  please  my  Lord. 
'  Tis  perfect  freedom,  if  Thou  reign  in  me, 
And  where  Thou  art,  there  shall  thy  servant  be ! 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Justification  by  Faith. — The  religion  of  Faith  and  the  system  of  Works 
delineated.— Faith  producing  Works. — Justification  followed  by  glorifi- 
cation. 

A  MAN  of  great  intellectual  powers,  and  ardent  but  not 
perfect  piety,  once  heard  two  Pilgrims  of  Apostolical 
authority  conversing  in  the  way  to  Heaven.  One  of 
them  said,  Therefore  we  conclude  that  a  man  is  justified 
by  Faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  The  other  said, 
Ye  see  then  how  that  by  works  a  man  is  justified,  and  not 
by  faith  only.  The  man  went  away  and  reported  that 
there  was  a  quarrel  between  those  two,  and  that  the  latter 
of  the  two  was  strawy  in  his  sayings.  The  mistaken  man 
was  Martin  Luther. 

Now  there  is  so  far  from  being  a  quarrel  between  Paul 
and  James,  that  there  is  not  even  a  difference.  The  two 
passages  are  only  opposite  sides  of  the  same  great  truth. 
We  were  once  travelling  with  a  little  company  of  mission- 
aries in  Turkey,  when  we  came  in  sight  of  a  beautiful 
distant  olive-orchard  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  with  the  wind 
agitating  the  branches,  and  turning  the  under  side  of  the 
leaves  to  the  sun.  There  arose  quite  a  contest  among  us 
as  to  the  color  of  those  olive-leaves.  Some  asserted  that 
it  was  pure  dark  green,  for  that  was  universally  the  color 
of  the  olive.  Others  said  as  confidently  that  it  was  a 
silvery  grey,  appealing  to  the  sight  before  us.  When  we 
came  to  the  orchard  itself,  we  found  both  assertions  to  be 


356  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

true,  the  under  side  of  the  leaves  turned  up  by  the  wind 
to  the  sun  in  our  first  position  showing  them  of  a  silvery 
grey,  while  the  upper  side,  with  the  sun  falling  on  that, 
in  our  next  position,  showed  their  natural  color  of  a  beau- 
tiful fresh  green.  So  here  in  these  two  texts  are  the  two 
sides  of  the  same  precious  olive-branch  of  truth,  the  great 
distinguishing  truth  of  the  gospel,  the  truth  of  justification 
and  peace  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  One  text  shows  the 
side  towards  God  in  Christ,  the  other  the  side  towards 
man  ;  both  are  equally  true,  indeed  are  one  and  the  same 
truth.  It  is  at  one  and  the  same  time  an  undeniable  truth, 
that  faith  without  works  is  the  only  true  religion,  and  yet 
that  faith  without  works  is  no  religion  at  all,  and  also,  that 
works  without  faith  are  no  better  than  sin. 

A  religion  of  works  is  a  selfish,  self-seeking,  bargaining, 
distrustful  religion.  A  religion  of  faith  is  a  disinterested, 
self-denying,  self-forgetting,  confiding  religion.  A  religion 
of  works  is  scrupulous,  fearful,  cramping,  prison-like,  and 
superstitious.  A  religion  of  faith  is  unsuspicious,  fearless, 
open-hearted,  generous,  and  free.  A  religion  of  works  is 
like  waxen  flowers,  or  like  fruits  wrought  and  colored  in 
stone,  and  it  may  be  with  such  exquisite  pains  and  skill, 
that  a  bee  would  light  upon  them  and  a  bird  peck  at  them. 
So  may  the  fruits  of  genuine  piety  be  imitated  in  a  religion 
of  works,  and  they  may  successfully  deceive  mankind,  not 
knowing  the  inward  fountain,  but  not  God,  who  looketh  on 
the  heart.  A  religion  of  faith  is  like  the  natural,  sponta- 
neous fruits  and  flowers  in  Eden,  not  only  fresh  and  fair  to 
the  sight,  but  good  for  medicine  and  food,  and  of  a  sweet 
and  wholesome  fragrance. 

Now  there  are  only  these  two  religions  in  the  world,  the 
true  and  the  counterfeit,  faith  without  works  and  works 
without  faith.  The  religion  of  faith  is  the  only  true,  the 
only  possible  religion  for  fallen  beings.  For  such  there 
can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  religion  of  justifying  works, 
such  beings  having  no  works  to  offer  but  works  of  sin,  or 
works  mingled  with  sin,  and  therefore  works  needing  to  be 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     357 

forgiven.  But  if  you  present  to  God  as  the  ground  of 
your  salvation  works  needing  to  be  forgiven,  you  present 
not  piety,  but  impiety  and  presumption.  You  present  to 
him  as  merit  what  can  deserve  and  bring  nothing  but  con- 
demnation. As  a  fallen  being  you  can  present  to  him 
nothing  but  faith  ;  that  is,  you  can  only  trust  in  his  mercy 
without  works,  having  no  works  to  bring  but  your  sins,  or 
the  good  things  of  God  spoiled  by  your  sins,  and  having 
nothing  that  you  can  do,  but  just  submit  and  trust,  willing 
that  he  should  do  what  he  pleases.  If  you  are  not  a 
fallen  being,  then  you  do  not  need  works,  nor  anything 
else  for  salvation,  neither  Saviour  nor  atonement,  but  may 
claim  protection  from  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God. 
But  if  you  are  a  fallen  being,  a  sinful  creature,  you  can 
have  no  works  to  bring,  but  what  are  proofs  of  sin. 
Therefore,  the  only  true  religion  possible  for  you  is  that 
of  faith  without  works,  that  of  submission  and  trust,  as  a 
guilty,  lost  sinner. 

There  is  no  other  true  religion  possible.  There  are, 
indeed,  things  that  are  called  religions,  as  there  are  that 
are  called  Gods  many  and  Lords  many ;  but  they  are 
pure  irreligion  and  falsehood,  the  work  of  Satan,  a  part  of 
the  great  dread  array  of  wiles  and  stratagems,  delusions, 
temptations,  and  lies,  with  which,  according  to  God's 
Word,  the  god  of  this  world  blinds  the  minds  of  them  who 
believe  not,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ 
should  shine  unto  them.  But  there  is  no  other  true  religion 
possible  than  that  of  faith.  In  the  very  nature  of  true 
religion  this  is  demonstrable.  There  cannot  be  a  religion 
of  justifying  works,  which  is  not  a  religion  of  lies.  And 
no  matter  how  elevated,  refined,  noble,  or  excellent  the 
works  may  be  supposed  to  be,  the  supposition  of  justifying 
merit  in  them,  of  a  purchase  of  salvation  by  them,  rots 
and  putrifies  them.  For  even  love  itself  presented  as 
merit,  and  faith  itself,  presented  as  a  justifying  work, 
becomes  a  vain,  palpable  lie.  The  very  fact  of  presenting 


358  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

it  as  a  merit,  for  reward,  proves  that  it  is  not  true  love  or 
true  faith,  but  a  forgery. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  illustrate  this  more  definitely.  As  a 
creature  of  God's  bounty,  you  owp  God  everything,  and 
love  first  of  all.  In  paying  him  this  love,  you  can  do 
nothing  of  merit,  nothing  as  a  work  for  justification.  If 
you  do  not  pay  it,  you  defraud  God  ;  if  you  do  pay  it,  you 
do  no  more  than  your  duty,  you  can  claim  nothing  as  merit. 
Can  a  man  merit  anything  for  loving  infinite  goodness  ? 
Is  not  the  not  loving  such  goodness  proof  of  indescribable 
depravity,  of  a  deep,  deadly  wrong  in  the  nature?  If 
love  is  offered  for  merit,  for  reward,  there  can  be  no 
merit  in  it.  The  very  idea  of  a  purposed  benefit  from  it 
changes  its  nature.  The  idea  of  one's  loving,  because  he 
fears  punishment  and  desires  reward,  is  an  absurdity. 
Suppose  you  should  hear  a  man  saying  that  he  loves 
another  very  much,  because  he  has  a  fortune  of  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  he  hopes  to  obtain  a  large 
part  of  it.  You  would  say  that  he  does  indeed  love  the 
other's  money  very  much,  but  not  the  man  himself,  not  his 
happiness,  his  virtues.  The  love  is  self-love,  nothing 
more.  So  in  regard  to  God.  If  we  present  anything  to 
him  on  the  meritorious  ground  of  justification,  to  gain 
heaven  by  that,  it  is  mere  self-love,  nothing  more,  even 
though  we  pretend  to  present  faith  and  love.  Faith  and 
love  cannot  justify ;  it  is  Christ  alone  that  justifies,  and  he 
justifies  the  sinner  simply  by  means  of  faith  as  the  way, 
not  by  faith  as  the  ground,  or  faith  as  a  merit  in  the 
sinner ;  for  the  sinner  has  no  merit,  and  even  in  coming 
by  faith  and  love,  comes  only  as  a  sinner. 

It  is  therefore  evident  that  faith  without  works  is  the 
only  true  religion,  the  only  religion  possible  for  mankind. 
But  here  some  one  will  turn  upon  us  and  say,  out  of  God's 
own  Word  in  the  Apostle  James,  that  faith  without  works 
is  dead.  And  yet  we  say  that  faith  without  works  is  the 
only  true  religion  possible  for  mankind.  Very  well. 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     359 

There  is  no  contradiction  here,  and  both  these  propositions 
are  perfectly  true.  By  faith  without  works,  James  means 
a  faith  which  does  not  produce  works,  which  is  no  faith 
at  all  but  devil's  faith,  believing,  trembling,  disobeying. 
There  is  a  great  difference  between  faith  without  works  as 
the  way  of  salvation,  that  is,  a  reliance  only  on  the  un- 
bought,  undeserved  mercy  of  Christ  without  works,  and 
faith  not  producing  works,  which  is  a  dead  faith.  Faith 
without  works  is  sure  to  produce  works,  and  will  show 
itself  by  works,  and  is  true  piety ;  that  is,  submission, 
trust,  confidence  in  God,  the  acceptance  of  his  way  of 
salvation,  without  any  trust  in  oneself.  A  man  thus 
coming  to  God  by  faith  without  works,  comes  indeed  not 
bringing  any  works  to  rely  on,  not  bringing  to  God  any- 
thing as  a  ground  of  acceptance  and  pardon,  but  trusting, 
believing,  having  faith  only.  But  this  faith  is  not  dead, 
though  it  be  faith  without  works ;  but  it  is  a  faith  that  will 
produce  works,  a  living  faith,  or  else  it  is  a  lie  ;  it  is  no 
faith,  but  death.  As  a  faith  producing  works,  it  is  a 
religion  of  works,  and  in  this  view  the  only  true  religion 
of  works  in  the  world,  or  possible,  is  the  religion  of  justifi- 
cation by  Christ  alone,  through  faith  alone  without  works. 
That  is  the  only  religion  that  produces  true  works  of 
piety,  the  religion  of  faith  without  works.  But  in  order 
that  it  may  be  a  living  faith,  a  faith  which  will  produce 
works,  it  must  be  a  faith  without  works,  a  simple  trust,  a 
submissive  resting  on  God's  mere  love  and  mercy,  and  not 
on  works.  But  the  Apostle  James  means  by  faith  without 
works,  a  faith  not  producing  works,  which  indeed  is  false 
and  dead.  There  is  no  difference  between  Paul  and 
James,  nor  ever  was,  or  ever  will  be,  although  the  one 
declares  that  there  is  no  true  religion  but  that  of  faith 
without  works,  and  the  other  that  faith  without  works  is 
dead. 

If  a  man  does  not  come  by  faith  alone,  trusting  willingly 
to  God  in  Christ,  but  attempts  to  bring  works  as  stepping- 
stones,  or  works  as  purchase  money,  or  works  as  bribes, 


360  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

or  works  as  merit,  he  comes  without  faith  at  all  \  it  must 
be  either  faith  alone,  faith  without  works,  or  no  faith  at 
all.  If  he  comes  by  faith  alone,  he  comes  with  that  which 
will  produce  works  ;  but  if  he  comtes  by  works,  he  comes 
with  neither  works  nor  faith,  both  being  dead,  both  false ; 
he  comes  by  lies.  So  there  is  no  true  religion  possible  in 
the  world  but  faith  alone.  The  best  works  are  false  with- 
out faith  ;  they  are  sin  and  condemnation.  They  may  be 
performed  to  gain  heaven,  but  they  are  the  way  to  hell. 
They  may  be  works  of  self-denial  in  its  extremest  form, 
but  it  is  self-denial  not  out  of  faith  and  love,  but  self-denial 
out  of  self-seeking,  self-salvation,  self-love.  This,  instead 
of  being  disinterestedness,  is  only  the  highest,  largest  form 
of  distrust  and  selfishness.  It  is  unwillingness  to  leave 
our  salvation  in  God's  hands  alone,  to  God's  mercy  alone, 
but  a  determination  to  hew  out  a  foundation  for  ourselves, 
on  which  to  climb  to  heaven  in  our  own  security,  not 
leaving  it  to  God's  mere  mercy,  not  trusting  in  Christ,  not 
throwing  all  on  him.  Now  the  very  best  of  all  good  things 
that  men  can  do  for  such  a  purpose,  if  it  be  not  faith  and 
love  that  inspire  them,  are  worthless,  they  are  sin  and 
death.  A  man  may  give  his  body  to  be  burned,  may 
bestow  all  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  may  undergo  all 
sufferings,  and  gain  a*ll  mysteries  of  knowledge,  but  if  this 
come  not  from  faith  and  love,  it  is  mere  self-seeking  and 
worthless. 

We  may  regard  this  as  severe  reasoning,  but  it  is  plain, 
it  is  demonstrable,  it  is  the  reasoning  of  the  Apostle. 
There  is  no  escaping  from  it.  Indeed,  in  our  transactions 
one  with  another,  we  reason  in  precisely  the  same  way. 
We  make  an  entire  distinction  between  acts  of  disin- 
terestedness performed  regardless  of  reward,  and  acts  of 
selfishness  or  of  self-love,  performed  for  reward.  If  you 
were  to  see  a  person  fall  overboard  from  a  ship  under  full 
sail  in  a  raging  sea,  and  the  next  moment  beheld  a  seaman 
plunge  to  rescue  the  drowning  man  at  the  peril  of  his  own 
life,  you  would  say  it  was  a  noble  act,  an  act  of  sublime 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     361 

benevolence,  generosity,  and  disinterestedness.  But  if 
immediately  afterwards  you  learned  that  that  man,  being 
enormously  wealthy,  had  beforehand  made  a  contract  with 
that  seaman  to  give  him  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
case  of  such  an  accident,  provided  he  would  save  him, 
your  tide  of  admiration  would  be  arrested  at  once.  You 
would  only  admire  the  love  of  money  in  the  seaman,  which 
could  overcome  the  fear,  and  almost  the  certainty,  of 
death,  and  produce  such  a  daring  venture. 

Now  the  holiness  which  is  produced  in  a  man's  life 
merely  from  the  fear  of  hell  and  the  hope  of  heaven,  is 
manifestly  no  better  than  this.  The  works  thus  performed 
afford  not  only  no  possibility  of  justification,  but  if  the  man 
have  not  faith  and  love,  they  are  proofs  of  guilt.  They 
show  that  self-love  can  produce  results  of  self-denial  and 
morality,  which  love  to  God  cannot  ;  or  rather  which  love 
to  God  would  have  produced,  had  it  been  present,  as  it 
ought,  but  it  was  not ;  there  was  not  regard  enough  for 
God,  to  do  what  regard  for  self  accomplished.  Can  any- 
thing show  more  conclusively  that  the  law  of  the  whole 
being  is  selfishness  ;  a  law  of  sin  and  death,  and  not  the 
lawr  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  ?  The  man  does 
for  himself,  for  a  high  self-interest,  what  he  will  not  do  for 
God,  from  love  and  duty.  It  is  complete  demonstration 
that  he  is  a  selfish  being,  and  his  very  religion  is  fraud  and 
selfishness,  and  instead  of  justifying  him,  condemns  him. 

But  when,  being  justified  by  grace,  through  faith,  the 
soul  passes  into  a  living  morality  out  of  gratitude  and  love, 
then  there  is  no  longer  any  condemnation.  Justification 
by  Faith  always  produces  a  walking  after  the  Spirit,  for 
whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified.  True  holiness  is 
a  glorification  begun  on  earth.  It  is  a  change  into  the 
image  of  the  Saviour  from  glory  to  glory.  If  any  man 
serve  me,  says  our  Blessed  Lord,  let  him  follow  me  ;  and 
where  I  am,  there  shall  also  my  servant  be  ;  if  any  man 
serve  me,  him  will  my  Father  honor.  This  daily  serving 
and  following  of  Christ  is  the  morality  of  justifying  faith ; 


362  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

and  we  have  already  traced  the  blessedness  and  power  of 
it  as  a  daily  life,  the  blessedness  of  that  Word  daily,  in 
our  Lord's  commands  of  »elf-denying  love  and  duty. 

A  man  by  daily  repetition  of  love  and  duty  becomes 
habitually  a  Christian  ;  it  is  a  second  nature  to  him,  and 
thus  it  is  easy.  A  man  who  is  punctual,  diligent,  and 
faithful,  daily,  in  secret  prayer,  will  be  bound  to  prayer, 
after  a  few  years,  by  such  an  adamantine  chain  in  his 
very  nature,  as  it  will  be  almost  impossible  to  break.  And 
so,  habits  of  right  feeling  as  well  as  of  right  action,  wear 
their  channels  of  experience  so  deep  in  the  soul,  and 
become  so  powerful,  that  you  cannot  turn  them  back  ; 
and  the  obstacles  thrown  in  to  hinder  them  are  themselves 
swept  onward  out  of  the  way.  This  is  the  great  blessed- 
ness of  conscientiously  following  Christ  daily.  The 
Christian  should  be  greatly  encouraged  by  it,  knowing  that 
his  strength  will  be  greater  by  the  faithful  use  of  the 
measure  of  grace  to-day  vouchsafed  to  him,  and  of  the 
doors  of  usefulness  to-day  opened  before  him.  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abun- 
dantly. It  is  the  power  of  habit ;  therefore  avail  yourself 
of  it ;  therefore  suffer  not  yourself  in  little  neglects.  If 
there  be  acts  of  duty  which  you  are  tempted  to  neglect 
to-day,  step  up  to  them  at  once,  and  perform  them  ;  for  it 
is  no  great  thing,  no  burden,  after  all ;  and  the  same  things 
will  be  incomparably  easier  to-morrow,  if  you  are  ener- 
getic and  punctual  with  them  to-day ;  but  if  you  yield  to 
neglect  to-day,  it  will  be  more  difficult  to-morrow.  And 
it  is  surprising  what  a  great  compound  interest  of  diffi- 
culty a  present  neglect  adds  to  future  duty.  The  mere 
neglect  of  a  simple  call,  which  you  ought  to  have  made 
to-day,  becomes,  by  repeated  neglects,  a  great  burden ; 
and  several  such  things  together  may  deprive  the  soul  of 
all  its  peace  and  comfort,  and  make  it  feel  like  a  bankrupt, 
surrounded  with  pitiless  creditors,  and  neither  knowing 
how  to  pay,  nor  what  nor  whom  to  begin  with.  Do  to-day 
what  belongs  to  to-day,  and  to-morrow's  work  will  be  very 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OP  GLORY.     363 

easy.  But  if  you  neglect  to-day  what  belongs  to  to-day, 
you  make  the  performance  of  to-morrow's  duty  more 
difficult  for  to-morrow,  and  you  add,  besides,  the  burden 
of  to-day's  neglect.  It  is  just  like  a  debt,  for  which  pro- 
vision may  be  made  with  comparative  ease  and  readiness, 
before  it  is  contracted,  or  before  it  becomes  due  ;  but  once 
really  due,  and  yet  not  paid,  once  the  mind  and  business 
burdened  with  it  as  a  debt  not  met  when  it  ought  to  have 
been,  and  then  every  day  makes  it  more  difficult,  every 
day  makes  it  less  probable  that  it  will  be  cancelled,  and 
demands  a  hundred  times  the  exertion  which  at  first 
would  have  easily  removed  it. 

Every  day  spent  in  a  willing,  punctual  faithfulness  in 
Christ's  service  makes  the  next  day  easier.  The  diffi- 
culties do  not  increase,  but  diminish.  But  if  they  increase, 
the  increase  of  grace  is  such,  that  even  the  great  succeed- 
ing difficulties  are  easier  to  meet  and  overcome  than  the 
first  little  ones.  Follow  Christ  well  to-day,  and  you  shall 
not,  to-morrow,  meet  with  anything  too  strong  for  you. 
Follow  Christ  closely  in  serving  him  to-day,  and  where  he 
is,  there  shall  his  servant  be,  to-morrow,  and  where  you, 
his  servant  are,  to-morrow,  there  will  he  be  with  you. 
Christ  never  issued  this  note  of  command,  with  a  daily 
as  the  time  of  it,  without  a  daily  provision  of  grace  to 
meet  it.  Put  your  name  on  the  back  of  it,  and  present  it 
daily  to  him,  and  however  large  the  amount  he  will  pay  it. 

Moreover,  if  at  any  time  difficulties  increase,  the  soul 
that  is  following  Christ  and  trusting  in  him,  knows  that 
every  day  it  is  getting  nearer  to  the  end  of  them.  It  is 
but  a  little  while.  These  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a 
moment.  They  are  light,  in  comparison  with  the  exceed- 
ing and  eternal  weight  of  glory  they  are  appointed  to  work 
out.  Though  ever  so  heavy,  they  are  light,  when  the  soul 
is  enabled  to  remember  and  feel  that  they  are  but  for  a 
moment. 


364  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

Let  cares  like  a  wild  deluge  come, 

And  storms  of  sorrow  fall ; 
May  I  but  safely  reach  my  home, 

My  God,  my  heaven,  my  all ; 
There  shall  I  bathe  my  weary  loul 

In  seas  of  heavenly  rest,  .  • 

And  not  a  wave  of  trouble  roll 

Across  my  peaceful  breast. 

A  man  is  saved  amidst  trials,  from  the  deadly  sting  of 
trials,  by  such  hope.  And  likewise  the  feeling  of  the 
shortness  of  time  and  the  nearness  of  eternity  diminishes 
every  burden.  The  soul  feels  somewhat  as  Paul  did  in 
the  near  prospect  of  the  heavenly  world.  I  am  now  ready 
to  be  offered.  Thy  crown  is  shining  near.  It  seems  as 
if  we  could  see  Paul  stopping  for  the  first  time  to  take 
breath  amidst  his  conflicts,  and  looking  back  upon  them. 
The  end  was  so  near,  that  all  seemed  now  done,  the  vic- 
tory gained,  the  struggle  over.  So  with  every  faithful 
soul,  as  it  nears  the  New  Jerusalem.  Christ  is  with  it, 
and  more  and  more  with  it,  the  nearer  it  comes  to  the 
close  of  its  course  of  humble  faithfulness  in  following  him. 
The  promise  begins  its  fulfilment  this  side  of  the  grave, 
that  where  I  am  there  shall  my  servant  be.  There  is  a 
land  Beulah  in  the  Christian  pilgrimage,  where  the  faithful 
soul  can  sometimes  almost  see  and  travel  with  the  white- 
robed  spirits.  So  the  author  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress 
found  it  in  his  own  experience.  In  this  country,  says  he, 
the  sun  shineth  night  and  day ;  wherefore  this  was  beyond 
the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death,  and  also  out  of  the 
reach  of  Giant  Despair ;  neither  could  they  from  this  place 
so  much  as  see  Doubting  Castle.  Here  they  were  within 
sight  of  the  City  they  were  going  to :  also  here  met  them 
some  of  the  inhabitants  thereof ;  for  in  this  land  the 
shining  ones  commonly  walked,  because  it  was  upon  the 
borders  of  heaven.  Here  they  had  more  rejoicing  than  in 
parts  more  remote  from  the  kingdom  to  which  they  were 
bound  ;  and  drawing  near  to  the  City  they  had  yet  a  more 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      365 

perfect  view  thereof.  The  reflection  of  the  sun  upon  the 
City  was  so  extremely  glorious,  that  they  could  not  as  yet 
with  open  face  behold  it,  but  through  an  instrument  made 
for  that  purpose.  Also,  as  they  went  on,  there  met  them 
two  men  in  raiment  that  shone  like  gold,  also  their  faces 
shone  as  the  light.  These  men  asked  the  Pilgrims  whence 
they  came,  and  they  told  them.  They  also  asked  them 
where  they  had  lodged,  what  difficulties  and  dangers,  what 
comforts  and  pleasures  they  had  met  in  the  way,  and  they 
told  them.  Then  said  the  men  that  met  them,  You  have 
but  two  difficulties  more  to  meet  with,  and  then  you  are 
in  the  City. 

Only  two  difficulties  more,  and  one  of  these  was  death ! 
Now  this  enchanting  passage  is  only  a  description  of  what 
may  take  place  this  side  the  river  of  death,  with  the  soul 
that  has  followed  Jesus  faithfully  to  the  borders  of  it. 
Where  I  am,  there  shall  my  servant  be.  Where  Christ  is, 
there  his  people  are,  even  here,  in  this  world ;  and  some- 
times heaven,  as  it  were,  is  opened,  and  the  veil  is  taken 
away,  and  celestial  things  are  so  ravishingly  clear,  and 
doubt  and  darkness  are  so  far  removed,  that,  as  Bunyan 
beautifully  says,  you  cannot  from  this  place  so  much  as 
see  Doubting  Castle.  Where  are  the  soul's  conflicts  then  ? 
O  then  what  delight  and  peace  and  ease  the  soul  finds  in 
daily  following  Christ,  daily  communing  with  him,  daily 
enjoying  his  presence  !  Only  two  difficulties  more,  and 
then  the  soul  will  be  in  the  City ! 

But  all  this  sweetness  of  spiritual  enjoyment,  all  this 
joy  and  peace  in  believing  and  in  walking  with  Christ,  is 
only  a  discipline  and  introduction,  even  when  it  is  vouch- 
safed in  the  highest  degree,  into  the  fulness  of  the  promise. 
It  is  a  discipline  of  introduction  into  that  fulness  of  glory 
covered  up  beneath  the  terms  of  the  promise.  Where  I 
am,  there  shall  my  servant  be,  hath  its  fulfilment  only  in 
heaven.  There  is  Christ's  abode,  there  his  eternal  dwell- 
ing-place, there  the  glorious  place  of  his  declaration  to  the 
Jews,  Before  Abraham  was  I  am,  and  there  the  region  of 


GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

which  he  spake  when  he  said,  No  man  hath  ascended  up 
to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven,  even  the 
Son  of  man  who  is  in  heaven.  Where  I  am,  there  shall 
my  servant  be.  There,  where  Isaiah '  saw  his  glory,  and 
the  Seraphim  veiling  their  faces  before  him,  and  crying, 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy  !  There  shall  his  servants  be,  and  they 
shall  be  like  him,  for  they  shall  see  him  as  he  is,  and  his 
name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads,  and  they  shall  follow  him 
whithersoever  he  goeth,  and  they  shall  be  without  spot  or 
wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  clothed  in  a  body  like  unto  his 
glorious  body,  having  their  robes  washed  and  made  white 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  being  satisfied  in  God's  likeness, 
and  without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God.  All  this 
Christ  refers  to,  when  he  says  in  the  last  prayer  for  his 
disciples,  Father,  I  will  that  those  whom  thou  hast  given 
me  be  with  me  where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my 
glory. 

The  emphasis  upon  this  last  expression  is  most  extra- 
ordinary. It  is  intimated  that  the  beholding  of  the  Saviour's 
glory,  as  it  was  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  and 
is  now,  and  evermore  will  be  displayed  in  the  heavenly 
world,  constitutes  the  fulness,  the  completeness,  of  blessing 
and  honor  in  heaven.  The  being  where  Christ  is,  to 
behold  his  glory,  comprehends  all  that  can  be  conceived 
of  blessedness.  The  beholding  of  Christ,  as  he  is,  and 
where  he  is,  will  be  attended  with  a  transformation  into 
his  image ;  the  beholding  of  his  glory  will  be  accompanied 
with  a  perfect  reflection  of  that  glory.  The  beholding  of 
Christ  in  heaven,  and  the  being  with  him  where  he  is,  will 
be  the  consummation  of  glory  and  blessedness  in  his 
saints  ;  and  hence  the  intense  longing  expressed  in  the 
New  Testament,  by  those  to  whom  these  mysteries  of  our 
future  being  have  been  revealed,  for  the  appearing  of  our 
Saviour,  and  the  looking  for  and  hastening  into  that  great 
day  of  God,  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  and  admired  in  all  them  that  believe.  This  longing 
for  the  appearing  of  Christ,  this  intense  desire  for  the  time 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      367 

of  his  coming,  was  a  peculiarity  of  the  New  Testament 
saints,  a  characteristic  of  their  piety,  which,  in  its  peculiar 
form,  has  almost  passed  away.  Believers  in  Christ  were 
characterized  by  Paul  as  those  who  love  his  appearing, 
who  look  forward  to  it  with  yearning  and  delight,  as  the 
time  when  this  corruptible  shall  put  on  incorruption,  and 
this  mortal,  immortality  ;  when  the  building  of  God  shall 
be  assumed  by  the  soul,  the  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens,  even  that  celestial  body,  like  unto 
the  Saviour's  glorious  body,  in  which  it  shall  dwell  forever 
in  his  presence,  for  ever  with  the  Lord. 

Where  I  am,  there  shall  my  servant  be.  They  are 
great  words,  words  of  infinite  weight  of  meaning,  words 
of  transcendent  inconceivable  glory,  words  covering  up 
an  eternal  and  exceeding  weight  of  glory.  Where  Christ 
is,  there  God  is,  and  God's  infinite  love  and  happiness  are 
revealed  in  Christ.  Where  Christ  is,  there  heaven  is,  and 
the  source  and  fountain  of  heaven's  light  and  glory. 
Where  Christ  is,  there  all  good  beings  are,  all  the  holy, 
loving  beings  of  the  universe,  concentrated  and  circled  in 
adoring  ranks  around  him,  the  visible  centre  of  their 
bliss,  the  author  of  their  holiness.  Now  of  all  this  glory 
Christ  says,  in  the  midst  of  it,  To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I  also 
overcame,  and  am  set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne. 
He  speaks  also  of  his  disciples  and  servants  as  partakers 
of  his  own  joy ;  and  the  welcome  of  his  servants  is  even 
this,  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord  !  The  joy  of  thy  Lord  !  What  a 
heaven  of  glory  and  blessedness  is  contained  in  that  one 
expression  !  The  joy  of  thy  Lord  !  Who  can  measure 
its  degree,  who  can  conceive  or  fathom  the  infinite  depth 
of  its  greatness,  the  infinite  intensity  of  its  bliss  ?  And 
yet,  that  is  the  joy  that  awaits  every  faithful  follower  and 
servant  of  the  glorious  Redeemer ;  the  Redeemer's  own 
joy,  a  thing  no  more  to  be  measured  or  fathomed  than  the 
actual  infinitude  of  God.  They  shall  be  with  him  where 


368  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

he  is,  they  shall  behold  his  glory,  they  shall  enter  into  his 
joy.  For  that  joy,  set  before  him,  he  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  for  ever  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  throne  of  God.  There  tjie  saints  shall  walk 
with  him  in  glory,  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ,  received  to  the  possession  of  an  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible, undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in 
heaven  for  those  who  are  faithful  unto  death,  who  are  kept 
by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation. 

But  there  is  yet  another  wonderful  expression,  connected 
with  another  great  series  of  promises,  which  is  as  another 
gallery  of  pictures  thrown  open  by  our  Lord,  to  excite  our 
imaginations,  allure  our  affections,  and  animate  us  in  our 
Christian  pilgrimage.  He  leads  us  up  the  heights  of  these 
Delectable  Mountains,  and  in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  with 
many  changes  of  coloring,  from  many  points  of  view, 
directs  our  eye  to  the  prospects  before  us.  If  any  man 
serve  me,  him  will  my  Father  honor.  Sometimes  the  soul, 
in  meditating  upon  this  expression,  finds  it  becoming  as  a 
chariot  of  fire,  in  which  the  heart  is  carried  up  to  heaven, 
to  see  things  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  ever  entered  into  the 
heart  of  m.an  to  conceive,  which  God  hath  prepared  for 
those  who  love  him.  Him  will  my  Father  honor !  What 
a  transcendent  significance  of  glory  !  To  be  honored  of 
God  !  What  series  of  images,  or  analogies,  or  reasonings, 
can  possibly  enable  us,  in  this  our  mortal  state,  to  come  to 
any  approximation  to  the  understanding  of  the  vastness 
and  intensity  of  meaning  covered  up  beneath  such 
language  ?  Rise  up,  child  of  such  destinies,  and  go  forth 
from  thy  place  of  humble,  silent,  secret  prayer,  beneath 
the  fulness  of  the  starry  skies,  in  some  bright  hour  at 
midnight,  and  gaze  with  the  telescope  of  science  over  the 
illimitable  fields  of  space,  thick  sown  with  rolling  worlds ! 
Thy  teacher  in  astronomy  demonstrates  to  thee  that  the 
realms  of  this  universe  contain  millions  on  millions. of 
worlds  so  remote  from  thine,  that  millions  on  millions  of 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     369 

years  would  not  enable  thee  to  reach  them,  though  travel- 
ling with  the  swiftness  of  light ;  and  when  thou  shouldst 
arrive  at  the  outermost  point  of  vision  possible  to  thee 
now,  there  would  still  lie  before  thee  to  be  traversed 
millions  on  millions  more  of  glorious  worlds,  as  far  beyond 
thy  vision,  and  as  many  years  beyond  thy  reach.  When 
thou  beginnest  to  comprehend  something  of  the  idea  of 
such  a  bewildering  infinitude  of  power  and  glory,  then 
thou  seemest  to  thyself,  especially  in  thy  sinful  nature,  a 
speck,  a  mote,  an  atom  of  dust,  an  insignificant,  vile 
creature,  that  may  well  be  dropped  out  and  lost  or  thrown 
away,  amidst  such  costly,  boundless  universes  of  magnifi- 
cent beings  and  things.  Now  then  come  back  from  thy 
trance  of  amazement  to  the  reality  of  the  words  of  Christ, 
and  then  thou  wilt  find  and  see  that  thou,  thou  thyself,  if 
thou  servest  Christ  sincerely  in  thy  little  day 'and  space  of 
time  and  action,  art  to  be  honored  of  the  God,  the  Creator, 
Possessor,  Supporter,  of  all  this  power  and  glory,  with  an 
honor,  of  which  this  material  universe  itself  can  give  no 
adequate  conception,  an  honor  never  bestowed  upon  that 
universe,  an  honor  which  will  mark  thee  in  the  midst  of 
that  universe  as  an  object  of  greater  wonder,  surprise,  and 
occasioned  admiration  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  of 
gratitude,  love,  and  praise,  than  the  whole  material  uni- 
verse besides.  Does  this  seem  like  the  language  of 
exaggeration  ?  Study  the  system  of  redemption,  and  the 
meaning  of  God's  promises,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
honor  of  the  Sons  of  God  in  Christ's  image,  and  the  glory 
of  the  riches  of  the  inheritance  of  saints  in  light,  cannot 
be  exaggerated.  You  will  hear  the  Saviour  declaring  to 
his  Father,  The  glory  which  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  given 
them.  And  you  will  hear  the  promise  unto  men,  He  that 
loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father ;  he  shall  keep  my 
words,  and  my  Father  shall  love  him,  and  we  will  come 
unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him.  He  that  con- 
fesseth  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  confess  before  my 
Father  and  his  holy  angels.  He  that  overcometh,  I  will 

16* 


370  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

make  him  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God,  and  he  shall  go 
no  more  out ;  and  I  will  write  upon  him  the  name  of  my 
God,  and  the  name  of  the  city  of  my  God,  New  Jerusalem, 
and  my  new  name.  And  the  very  stram  of  invitation  and 
shout  of  welcome  unto  the  region  and  possession  of  such 
beatitude  past  utterance,  is  this,  BLESSED  OF  MY  FATHER  ! 
Before  the  throne  of  God  they  dwell,  and  they  serve  him 
day  and  night  in  his  temple,  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  shall  dwell  among  them.  They  shall  hunger  no 
more,  neither  thirst  any  more,  neither  shall  the  sun  light 
on  them,  nor  any  heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters,  and  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

Now  these  things  are  a  great  mystery  of  condescension 
and  love  ;  so  great,  that  in  some  respects  there  is  no  mys- 
tery to  be  compared  with  them.  We  know  not  what  to 
make  of  them,  and  in  some  moods  of  mind  they  almost 
stagger  credibility,  it  seems  so  impossible  that  God  can  so 
honor  and  bless  such  sinful  worms  as  we  are.  The  mys- 
tery is  somewhat  opened  and  cleared  up  indeed,  when  we 
think  that  the  ground  and  object  of  all  this  glory  is  the 
honor  of  Christ ;  but  then  again  when  we  think  how 
miserably  poor,  little,  and  imperfect  is  the  utmost  honor 
and  service  we  can  pay  him,  in  comparison  with  that 
which  is  his  due,  again  the  mystery  appears  amazing. 
But  there  stand  the  promises  of  God.  They  are  eternal 
realities  with  all  their  mystery  of  glory.  And  so  is  the 
crown  of  glory  before  us,  which  is  soon  to  be  revealed. 
It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we  know 
that  when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is. 

Come,  Lord !  cried  Richard  Baxter,  transported  by  his 
meditations  on  this  glory  yet  to  be  revealed,  and  convinced 
that  if  the  work  of  Christ  on  earth,  in  which  his  soul 
delighted,  was  to  him  full  of  joy  and  blessedness,  with  all 
its  difficulties  and  trials,  then  certainly  the  beholding  of 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     371 

Christ's  glory  in  heaven,  and  the  partaking  of  it  there, 
would  be  a  joy  and  happiness  past  all  present  knowledge 
and  conception  : — 

Come,  Lord,  when  grace  hath  made  me  meet, 

Thy  blessed  face  to  see, 
For  if  thy  work  on  earth  be  sweet, 

What  will  thy  glory  be  ! 

Then  shall  I  end  my  sad  complaints, 

And  weary,  sinful  days, 
And  join  with  those  triumphant  saints 

That  sing  Jehovah's  praise. 

My  knowledge  of  that  life  is  small, 

The  eye  of  faith  is  dim, 
But  'tis  enough  that  Christ  knows  all, 

And  I  shall  be  with  him. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

Glorification  completed. — Heaven  a  perfect  state,  both  relatively  and  absolutely, 
but  such  perfectness  not  attained  this  side  of  Heaven. — And  in  Heaven  itself, 
all  perfection  is  in  and  of  Christ. — Conclusion  of  the  Windings  of  the  River 
of  the  Water  of  Life. 

AMIDST  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  there  is  one  scene 
of  heavenly  glory,  formed  by  the  presence  of  the  redeemed 
from  earth,  said  to  be  without  fault  before  the  throne  of 
God.  This  is  a  wonderful  declaration,  and  a  most  glorious 
mystery  of  godliness.  Indeed,  of  all  mysteries,  this  is  one 
of  the  greatest,  that  a  sinful  man  should  be  found  without 
fault  before  the  throne  of  God.  But  a  sinful  man  becomes 
in  Christ  a  new  creature.  It  is  not  the  old  man,  full  of 
depravity  and  sins,  that  is  without  fault  before  the  throne 
of  God,  but  the  new  man,  the  new  creation  out  of  the 
ashes  of  the  old,  the  man  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  created  for  the  purpose  of  being  presented  before  the 
throne  of  God  in  his  likeness. 

They  are  the  redeemed  from  among  men..  They  are  the 
first  fruits  unto  God  and  the  Lamb.  They  are  the  subjects 
of  his  regenerating  love  and  grace.  They  were  once 
creatures  of  sin  and  of  destruction,  with  natures  of  such 
voluntary  evil,  that  they  were  called  by  Divine  Inspiration 
itself,  children  of  wrath,  and  children  of  the  devil.  Now 
they  are  before  the  throne  of  God  in  his  likeness.  Now 
they  are  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing.  Now 
they  are  without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God. 


GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL,  &C.    373 

This  is  the  result  of  the  great  mystery  of  justification, 
which  itself  steps  back  into  the  mystery  of  sanctification, 
and  that  into  the  mystery  of  regeneration,  and  that  again 
into  the  mystery  of  redemption,  and  that  into  the  unfathom- 
able depths  of  the  mystery  of  God's  love.  These  steps 
are  traced  in  the  forward  direct  order  by  Paul's  logic  thus : 
foreknowledge,  predestination,  calling  and  conformity  to 
the  image  of  God's  dear  Son,  justification,  glorification. 
John  in  the  Apocalypse  sets  us  down  at  the  last  step, 
glorification  ;  without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God. 

There  is  here  what  might  almost  be  called  a  change  in 
personal  identity.  Men  talk  of  the  great  mystery  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  but  here  is  a  greater  mystery  by 
far,  the  resurrection  of  the  soul  from  death  into  life  eternal, 
the  same  soul,  and  yet  a  different  soul — the  same  soul  and 
yet  a  new  soul  in  Christ  Jesus,  a  soul  absolved  from  guilt, 
once  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  now  alive  in  holiness  ; 
once  corrupted  and  defiled,  with  the  image  of  God 
destroyed,  and  that  of  Satan  adopted,  but  now  cleansed, 
purified,  sanctified,  the  likeness  of  Satan  gone  eternally, 
the  likeness  of  God  renewed  eternally,  and  the  image  of 
Christ  made  the  soul's  eternal  identity,  by  the  union  of  the 
soul  with  Christ,  Christ  as  the  soul  of  the  soul,  abiding  in 
it,  and  shining  through  and  from  it  for  ever.  This  is  a 
transaction  so  wonderful,  a  transformation  so  immeasur- 
able in  glory,  and  so  incomprehensible,  save  only  by  the 
revelation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  there  is  no  mystery 
in  the  universe  to  be  compared  with  it,  save  only  that 
mystery  of  the  incarnation  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God, 
which  laid  the  foundation  for  it. 

Now  this  is  undoubtedly  the  glorified  state  of  the  soul, 
and  belongs  to  nothing  but  that.  It  can  be  affirmed  abso- 
lutely of  no  previous  state,  no  condition  of  attainment  in 
the  processes  of  sanctification  in  this  world.  It  is  the 
completion  and  absolute  fulfilment  of  all  the  processes  of 
regeneration,  sanctification,  justification,  redemption,  in 
Christ  and  in  Christ's  glory.  It  cannot  be  said  absolutely, 


374  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

at  any  previous  step  before  this  state  of  glory,  that  the 
soul  is  without  fault.  There  may  be  the  image  of  Christ 
perfectly  visible  and  undoubted  at  a  previous  stage,  and 
it  may  be  long  time  visible,  so  that  noJ  person  in  the  world 
doubts  it.  But  that  is  not  to  be  of  necessity  without  fault. 
Christ  himself  is  represented  as  sitting  as  the  Great 
Refiner  and  Purifier  of  his  people,  over  the  crucible  in 
which  he  is  trying  their  souls,  looking  into  it,  till  he  sees 
his  own  face  reflected  in  the  clear,  unspotted  mirror. 
But  that  may  be,  and  yet  it  may  not  be  possible  that  it 
should  be  said  without  fault.  For  the  dross  may  gather 
again.  It  may  gather,  and  it  does  gather,  notwithstanding 
all  Christ's  care,  and  directly  beneath  his  eye.  For  in  this 
world  there  is  indwelling  corruption  still,  which  shows 
itself  sometimes  even  in  the  very  fire  ;  and  no  sooner  is 
one  coat  of  dross  removed,  and  the  image  of  Christ  seen 
shining,  than  the  bright  surface  begins  again  to  be  clouded, 
and  the  film  gathers ;  perhaps  a  different  kind  of  dross, 
less  dark  and  gross  than  before,  but  still  the  development 
of  indwelling  imperfection  and  sin. 

Sometimes  the  crucible  has  to  be  kept  in  the  fire,  and 
the  trial  maintained  almost  without  cessation,  all  through 
life.  And  never,  probably,  while  in  the  body,  does  the 
soul  reach  the  point  where  it  can  be  said  absolutely,  as  in 
the  state  of  glory,  without  fault.  The  processes  which 
tend  to  that  state,  which  are  to  conduct  to  it  and  issue  in 
it,  may  all  be  going  forward,  and  may  have  advanced 
further  towards  completion  in  some  than  in  others ;  seen, 
indeed,  in  all  their  various  stages  and  approximations  to 
the  state  of  glory,  and  in  some  cases  arising  to  a  very 
eminent  and  wonderful  degree  of  continued,  undeviating, 
almost  unclouded  transformation  in  the  image  of  Christ. 
But  while  these  processes  are  going  forward,  while  there 
is  anything  to  be  accomplished  by  them,  they  are  not  per- 
fect ;  and  while  there  remains  anything  in  the  soul  which 
needs  to  be  corrected,  or  which  may,  or  might,  if  left  to 
its  development,  result  in  imperfection  and  sin,  the  process 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     375 

conducting  to  the  state  of  perfection  in  glory  is  not  com- 
plete. It  cannot  be  said  of  the  soul,  as  in  that  state, 
without  fault. 

It  can  be  said  neither  relatively  nor  absolutely.  For 
there  is  still  that  within  the  soul  which  connects  it  with 
its  past  sins,  that  which  is  the  consequence  and  result  of 
those  sins,  and  a  source  of  trial,  evil,  imperfection.  There 
is  present  fault  growing  out  of  past  sin,  and  connecting 
the  soul  with  it,  although  it  have  been  ever  so  bitterly  and 
humbly  repented  of.  It  may  have  been  forgiven,  but  the 
process  of  deliverance  and  redemption  from  it  is  not  yet 
completed,  and  therefore  neither  in  respect  to  the  present 
nor  the  past  can  it  ever  be  said,  in  such  a  state,  to  be 
without  fault. 

But  in  the  glorified  state  this  is  to  be  said  both  rela- 
tively and  absolutely.  Absolutely,  there  is  nothing  imper- 
fect, nothing  tending  to  sin,  no  latent  quality,  or  bias,  or 
shade  of  character,  or  habit,  or  seed,  or  principle,  that,  if 
left  to  development,  could  produce  evil.  And  relatively, 
there  is  no  connexion  between  the  soul  and  past  sin,  no- 
thing left  to  the  soul  which  was  the  result  of  sin,  nothing 
which  could  remind  the  soul  that  sin  ever  existed,  no  scars 
of  sin,  no  trace  of  evil,  no  fault  or  guilty  consciousness  of 
past  sin  remaining,  but  all  things  entirely  new,  old  things 
done  away,  and  a  being  existing  of  unrningled  newness  in 
Christ.  This  being,  from  the  moment  of  its  entering  on 
this  glorified  state,  is  absolutely  without  fault,  in  respect 
to  all  past,  all  present,  all  future  existence,  as  absolutely  as 
the  angels  in  heaven.  It  is  free  from  sin,  from  all  con- 
nexion with  sin,  from  all  blame  of  sin,  as  well  as  all  stain 
of  sin,  there  being,  from  the  first  moment  of  its  glorified 
state,  no  remnant  of  its  former  sinful  state,  either  as  con- 
sequence or  tendency,  connecting  its  present  character, 
powers,  or  accountabilities  with  that.  It  is  wholly  another 
being  in  Christ,  and  in  respect  of  the  consciousness  of 
holiness,  its  personal  identity  may  be  said  to  be  changed 
from  that  of  a  sinner  into  that  of  Christ.  The  life  now 


376  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

lived  is  solely  that  of  Christ,  the  identity  now  experienced 
is  that  of  oneness  with  Christ.  There  is  nothing  which 
can  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  this  present  being,  any  more 
than  to  the  charge  of  Christ  himself,  ror  it  is  as  absolutely 
without  fault  as  Christ  is  without  fault. 

And  this  is  the  state  in  which  all  glorified  beings  will 
view  it,  angels  and  all  intelligences,  seeing  in  it  nothing 
but  holiness,  and  nothing  to  remind  them  of  sin  ;  no  more 
remnant  of  any  past  connexion  with  sin,  or  association 
with  the  idea  of  it,  seen  in  these  redeemed  spirits  of  the 
just  made  perfect,  than  in  the  angels  themselves ;  except 
indeed  the  holiness  and  glory  of  redemption,  the  peculiar 
image  of  Christ,  which,  together  with  the  song  that  they 
sing,  to  Him  that  hath  washed  us  from  sin,  robed  us  in 
white,  and  redeemed  us  to  God  by  his  blood,  will  make 
known  to  all  the  universe  that  these  are  they  who  once  on 
earth  were  lost  sinners,  but  have  come  out  of  great  tribu- 
lation, and  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  But  now,  in  Christ,  they  are  as 
absolutely  without  fault  as  if  they  never  had  been  sinners, 
and  the  only  thing  in  themselves  to  remind  any  creature 
in  the  universe  that  they  ever  had  been  sinners,  is  that 
transcendent  lustre  of  their  holiness  in  the  image  of  Christ, 
that  peculiar  identity  of  their  souls  with  Christ,  and  that 
singular  reflection  of  Christ's  glory  from  them,  above  the 
glory  of  the  angels  ;  that  reflection  of  the  glory  of  the 
Lamb,  which  will  mark  them  as  the  radiant  beings  for 
whom  the  Lamb  was  slain.  Nothing  but  that  can  ever 
remind  the  inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  world,  that  there 
ever  was  or  could  have  been  a  state  in  their  being,  in 
which  it  could  not  be  said  that  they  were  without  fault. 
It  is  the  excess  of  holiness  in  them,  the  peculiar  ravishing 
character  of  that  holiness,  as  the  glory  of  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain,  and  no  shade  of  any  mark  or  remembrance  of 
sin  or  connexion  with  it,  that  would  cast  the  thoughts  of 
any  creature  in  heaven  back  upon  a  once  sinful  state. 

But  this  could  never  be  the  case,  until  the  soul  reached 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      377 

this  state  of  glory.  Everywhere  this  side  that  glorified 
state,  at  whatever  point  of  attainment,  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  soul  itself  connecting  it  immediately  with 
guilt,  and  forbidding  the  spiritual  spectator,  as  well  as  the 
conscious  sinner,  to  dare  to  say,  without  fault.  Wherever 
the  angels,  as  they  cast  down  their  observant  regards  upon 
our  world,  or  ministered  in  it  to  those  who  were  to  be 
heirs  of  salvation,  beheld  the  path  of  a  being  under  God's 
guidance  shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day,  they 
saw  still  the  path  of  a  sinner,  they  had  to  turn  an  anxious 
compassionate  regard,  till  they  saw  the  path,  with  all  their 
anxieties  in  regard  to  it,  lost  from  the  sinfulness  of  mortal 
life,  in  the  holiness  and  glory  of  God  in  eternity.  They 
saw  in  every  creature,  however  holy,  the  stain  of  sin,* the 
remaining  power  of  sin  ;  and  if  such  a  creature  could  have 
been  supposed  to  be  taken,  just  in  that  state,  though  at  any 
point  of  attainment  in  holiness  whatever,  into  heaven, 
without  the  process  of  glorification  perfected,  there  would 
have  been  seen  in  such  a  creature  the  anomaly  of  imper- 
fection in  heaven,  that  which  would  have  forbidden  its 
inhabitants  to  say,  without  fault  ;  that  which  would  have 
manifested  itself  to  every  holy  consciousness  as  a  tendency 
to  sin,  and  a  guilty  relationship  with  sin. 

But  it  is  not  possible  to  suppose  any  such  thing  in 
heaven.  Sin  belongs  only  out  of  heaven,  and  all  con- 
nexion with  it  ceases  there.  And  just  so,  perfect  holiness, 
the  being  absolutely  without  fault,  belongs  not  to  a  fallen 
world,  and  never  was  and  never  will  be  found  in  it,  except 
only  in  the  person  of  the  Saviour.  But  it  is  the  supreme 
and  universal  blessedness  of  heaven,  it  is  the  glory  of  the 
glorified  state,  that  all  who  enter  upon  it  leave  all  sin,  all 
stain,  all  imperfection  behind  them  for  ever,  and  are  with- 
out fault  before  the  throne  of  God.  From  the  moment 
they  are  glorified,  it  is  entirely  a  new  existence,  no  more  to 
be  paralleled  or  even  predicted,  by  any  attainments  in  a 
world  of  sin,  than  the  glory  of  the  flower,  as  its  leaves 
open  to  the  light  of  the  sun,  is  to  be  paralleled  by  the  seed, 


378  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

as  it  lies  germinating  in  the  earth  and  surrounded  with 
rottenness.  There  is  a  difference,  the  greatness  of  which 
we  cannot  by  any  effort  conceive,  between  the  state  of  the 
soul  in  a  world  of  sin,  a  body  of  death,  and  a  condition  of 
probationary  discipline,  and  its  state  in  a  world  of  perfect 
holiness,  blessedness,  and  glory.  For  now  we  see  as 
through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to  face.  Now  we 
see  in  sin,  and  in  ignorance  because  of  sin,  and  this  alone 
makes  a  difference  which  we  are  in  no  way  able  to  mea- 
sure. Now  are  we  the  Sons  of  God,  if  Christ  indeed  be 
in  us,  but  yet  in  so  much  weakness,  darkness,  and  imper- 
fection, that  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  \ve  shall  be, 
scarcely  more  than,  if  you  should  open  the  ground,  and 
examine  a  grain  of  corn,  which  had  been  put  beneath  the 
earth  in  the  spring  to  die,  you  could  tell  what  it  will  be, 
when  the  golden  field  of  grain  is  waving  in  the  harvest. 
But  there  is  another  point  and  revelation  of  shining 
light,  with  all  our  ignorance.  We  know,  adds  the  Apostle, 
that  when  he,  the  Son  of  God,  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  When  he,  who  is 
our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in 
glory.  This  being  without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God, 
is  a  being  in  the  likeness  of  the  Saviour.  For  creatures 
who  have  once  sinned,  the  being  without  fault  consists  in 
that,  and  could  not  be  without  that.  It  is  the  Redeemer's 
righteousness,  which  his  saints  will  wear,  but  they  will 
not  wear  it  only  as  a  robe,  but  it  will  be  in  them,  as  their 
nature,  their  very  existence,  in  Christ.  They  will  be 
without  fault,  because  Christ,  into  whose  image  they  are 
transfigured,  is  without  fault.  They  will  be  without  fault, 
because  there  will  be  nothing  left  in  them,  nothing  seen  in 
them,  but  the  image  of  Christ.  Even  this  vile  body  shall 
be  changed,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious 
body.  Thus  he  will  present  every  child  of  God  perfect 
and  complete  before  the  throne  of  God  in  his  likeness, 
without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing.  Thus  will  he 
be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  then  it  will  be  known  what  is 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.      379 

the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory 
of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints.  Christ  is  now  in  every 
saint  the  hope  of  glory ;  Christ  will  be  in  every  saint  the 
possession,  realization,  and  fulness  of  glory. 

But  of  this  we  can  understand  now  only  a  little.  If  we 
are  the  children  of  God,  we  know  something,  as  the  Apos- 
tle John  knew  something,  of  what  his  meaning  was,  when 
he  said,  Now  are  we  the  Sons  of  God.  .We  know  that 
that  is  a  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  to  be  made  par- 
takers of  the  Spirit,  to  be  changed  by  that  Spirit  from  sin 
to  holiness,  even  to  begin  to  be  so  changed.  Of  that 
glory  the  Apostle  had  had  experience,  when  he  said,  Now 
are  we  the  Sons  of  God.  He  had  seen  also  the  Saviour's 
glory  on  the  Mount.  But  there  is  a  glory  to  come,  of 
which  John  himself  had  no  adequate  conception,  and 
could  only  say,  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ; 
save  this  only,  that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
him.  It  would  seem  then,  that  the  experience  now  of  a 
participation  in  the  holiness  of  Christ,  great  as  the  glory 
and  blissfulness  of  that  is,  is  but  the  preparation  for  that 
change  into  his  glorifiecl  state,  of  the  glory  of  which  we 
can  as  yet  form  no  definite  imagination. 

It  will  be  a  wondrous  thing  indeed,  the  wonder  of 
all  heaven,  to  see  those  beings  from  this  world  of  sin,  in 
the  glorified  state  of  Christ,  and  without  fault  before  the 
throne  of  God.  What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white 
robes,  and  whence  came  they  ?  These  subjects  of  wonder 
and  interrogation  in  the  heavenly  world,  these  representa- 
tives of  the  glory  of  the  Saviour,  these  that  have  passed 
the  gates  of  death,  whence  came  they  ?  John  Foster  once 
asked  these  questions,  and  apostrophized  an  answer  to 
them,  in  a  grandeur  of  spirit  which  language  can  but 
faintly  intimate.  Whence  came  they  ?  From  darkness 
and  sin,  from  meanness  and  degradation,  from  want  and 
from  sorrow,  from  a  subjection  to  all  the  irregularities  of 
all  the  elements,  from  the  very  dread  of  death,  which  has 
given  them  to  such  felicities.  Their  mortal  tabernacle 


380  GRACE    AND    TRUTH, 

fell  asunder,  and  let  the  captive  spirit  go  free.  It  was  a 
change  inconceivable,  unutterable,  from  the  ignorance 
and  darkness  of  this  world  into  the  amazing  pursuits  and 
glories  of  that  !  Who  are  they  ?  lOne  was  a  Lazarus, 
lying  cold  and  disordered  at  a  rich  man's  -gate.  Another 
was  pointed  at  by  the  finger  of  scorn ;  a  third  inclosed  by 
the  walls  of  a  prison  ;  a  fourth  perished  in  the  martyr's 
flame.  They  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  they 
wandered  about  in  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins,  being  desti- 
tute, afflicted,  tormented.  They  were  the  off-scouring  of 
all  things.  Now  they  are  the  wonder  of  heaven.  Now 
they  are  rich,  now  ennobled,  now  they  are  at  rest,  now 
happy  for  ever.  Now  they  are  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple ;  and  he  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them.  They  shall 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more  ;  neither  shall  the 
sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is 
in  the  midst  of  them  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters  ;  and  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

O  glory,  glory,  glory,  beyond  'all  glory  ever  seen  or 
known,  this  side  the  completion  of  redemption,  and  the 
glorification  of  the  Saviour  in  his  Saints !  For,  consider 
the  language  used  by  the  inspired  Revealer  in  shadowing 
forth  this  state  of  heavenly  glorification.  Before  the 
throne  of  God  without  fault.  Absolute  perfection,  secured 
everlastingly  by  the  oneness  of  the  soul  with  Christ. 
Perfection  not  relative  to  man  merely,  nor  angels,  but  tg 
God,  as  a  participation  of  God's  own  perfection  in  Christ ! 
Perfection  BEFORE  THE  THRONE  OF  GOD,  before  that  reality 
in  heaven,  beneath  the  shadows  of  which  on  earth,  the 
great  prophet,  who  saw  it  only  in  a  vision,  was  compelled 
to  cry  out,  when  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  Seraphim, 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy !  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  undone !  Before 
the  throne  of  God  without  fault.  Before  the  throne  of 
God  in  glory  !  And  therefore,  a  faultlessness  infinitely 
perfect,  a  glory  and  a  blessedness  unchangeable  and  ever- 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     381 

lasting ;  unchangeable,  save  only  from  glory  to  glory,  and 
from  happiness  to  happiness  ;  a  glory  and  happiness  ever- 
lasting and  boundless  as  the  perfection  of  God ! 

There  is  no  pause  here,  no  darkness,  nothing  that  admits 
of  mistake,  all  doubt  and  fear  are  gone  for  ever,  the  cer- 
tainty of  continuance  and  progression  in  this  state  being 
the  certainty  and  immutability  of  the  Divine  Attributes. 
There  was  doubt  and  darkness  and  fear  on  earth,  and 
though  the  path  below  rose  upwards  into  increasing  light, 
yet  there  may  have  been  doubt,  gloom,  and  uncertainty, 
up  even  to  the  very  point  of  death  and  glory ;  but  that 
point  reached,  the  soul  for  ever  freed  from  spot,  wrinkle, 
or  any  such  thing,  cut  loose  from  all  possibility  of  fall  or 
change,  is  launched  in  God's  own  light,  in  an  identity  with 
Christ's  own  existence,  on  the  boundless  sea  of  God's  per- 
fections, where  it  passes  the  possibility  of  created  imagina- 
tion, this  side  the  grave,  to  know  or  track  its  glory. 
Then  cometh  the  Hallelujah  of  victory !  Then  is  fulfilled 
the  last  mystery  of  holiness,  of  which  the  Apostle  has 
said,  Behold  I  show  it  to  you.  For  this  corruptible  must 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immor- 
tality. So  when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incor- 
ruption, and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality, 
then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is  written, 
Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory  !  O  Death,  where  is  thy 
sting  ?  O  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  The  sting  of 
death  is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law.  But 
thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ! 

By  all  this  we  see  plainly  that  that  expression,  the  Spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect,  conveys  the  image  of  a  sight, 
which  we  come  to  in  heaven  alone.  A  man  may  be  a  just 
man  and  not  a  perfect  man.  He  may  be  justified,  and 
may  have  passed  from  condemnation  and  bondage  into  life 
and  freedom  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  yet  by  no  means  be  per- 
fect. The  spirits  of  the  just  may  be  on  earth ;  the  just 


382  GRACE    AND   TRUTH, 

made  perfect  are  only  in  heaven.  But  this  last  state  is 
immeasurably  more  glorious.  To  say  of  a  man  that  he  is 
just,  that  he  is  justified  in  Christ,  is  full  of  glory ;  it  is  the 
beginning  of  glory.  But  to  say  thp  just  made  perfect,  is 
to  reach  a  point,  where  angels  and  principalities  and 
powers  will  never  be  wearied  with  gazing ;  where  indeed 
all  that  they  have  beheld  in  all  the  past  eternity  of  God's 
wojiders  of  wisdom,  power,  and  love,  will  leave  them  still 
astonished  and  enraptured,  with  a  new  surpassing  rapture, 
at  this  before  inconceivable  revelation  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  Saviour  seen  through  his  saints.  This  is  that  glori- 
fication together  with  Christ,  to  which  the  Apostle  Paul 
refers,  when  he  speaks  of  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed 
in  us ;  the  glory  of  those  who  are  glorified  together  with 
Christ,  being  that  of  those  who  are  without  fault  before  the 
throne  of  God.  Well  may  the  earnest  expectation  of  the 
creature  wait  for,  and  long  after,  such  a  manifestation  of 
the  Sons  of  God. 

Another  class  of  passages  illustrated  in  the  same  man- 
ner is  that  of  those  which  speak  of  Christ's  appearing,  as 
the  great  era  of  desire  and  glory.  It  is  the  era  of  the 
assumption  of  this  transcendent  glory  by  the  Saints,  this 
exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Instructed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  they  are  looking  and  longing,  yearning  after 
and  expecting  that  day  of  Christ ;  and  they  are  exhorted 
to  rejoice  now,  if  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings,  that 
when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  they  may  be  glad  also 
with  exceeding  great  joy.  Looking  for  that  blessed  hope, 
and  the  glorious  appearing  of  our  Great  God  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  When  he  who  is  our  life  shall  appear,  then 
shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory.  The  excitement 
of  this  hope,  the  living  upon  it,  and  the  being  animated  by 
it,  came  to  be,  as  we  have  previously  intimated,  so  much  a 
characteristic  of  the  early,  loving,  suffering  saints,  that 
Paul  speaks  of  them,  as  those  who  love  the  Lord's  appear- 
ing. In  that  appearing  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY.     383 

saints,  and  admired  in  all  them  that  believe,  who  shall  then 
be  presented  faultless  before  the  throne  of  his  glory  with 
exceeding  great  joy. 

To  this  faultlessness  all  things  are  now  tending,  all 
things  in  God's  Word,  providence,  and  grace,  working 
towards  its  consummation.  And  this  illustrates  remark- 
ably yet  another  class  of  passages,  which  connect  the 
work  of  sanctification  in  its  progress  in  this  world  with 
this  same  era  of  Christ's  appearing,  and  some  of  which 
express  such  intense  desire  and  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the 
Apostle,  for  the  holiness  of  the  saints,  being  confident, 
Paul  says  in  Phil.  i.  6,  that  he  which  hath  begun  a  good 
work  in  you  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 
And  again,  in  1st  Cor.  i.  8,  Who  shall  also  confirm  you 
unto  the  end,  blameless  in  the  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  And  so,  in  1st  Thess.  iii.  13,  in  language  almost 
the  same  as  that  used  by  John  in  the  Apocalypse ;  and  in 
1st  Thess.  v.  13,  the  Apostle  says,  The  very  God  of  peace 
sanctify  you  wholly  :  and  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit  and 
soul  and  body  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

This  work  is  travelling  always  on  \  every  labor  of  the 
saints,  every  prayer  of  faith,  every  advancement  in  holi- 
ness, is  necessary  to  it ;  and  the  climax  and  consummation 
of  it  is  not  to  be  a  sudden  new  creation,  but  a  revelation 
of  what  was  hidden,  and  an  uncovering  to  the  view  of  the 
whole  universe,  of  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  Christ's 
inheritance  in  the  Saints.  In  reference  to  it,  and  to  all 
the  arrangements  making  for  it,  we  seem,  as  it  were, 
seated  in  a  dark  room,  gazing  towards  an  illimitable  trans- 
parency which  is  preparing  for  the  vision,  but  not  yet 
lighted  up,  nor  the  figures  perfected,  nor  the  coloring  per- 
fectly prepared,  but  preparing,  for  the  transmission  of  the 
light  which  is  to  shine  through  it.  So  we  wait,  so  the 
perfection  of  the  saints  waits,  so  the  admiring  universe 
waits,  for  Christ's  appearing,  Christ's  revelation,  as  the 
light,  the  significance,  the  fountain  of  all  this  glory.  And 


384    GRACE  AND  TRUTH,  CHRIST  IN  THE  SOUL,  AC. 

when  he  shall  appear,  then  the  whole  universe  will  suddenly 
be  lighted  up  at  the  blaze  of  this  transparency,  and  Christ 
will  be  shining  through  it  all,  and  it  will  be  Christ's  glory 
that  shall  be  admired  in  all  its  living,  blissful  figures  for 
ever  and  ever. 

Now  let  it  be  remembered  that  all  this  consummation 
is  connected  indissolubly  with  every  thought  and  effort  of 
the  saint's  life.  Every  victory  that  through  divine  grace 
the  Christian  gains  over  sin  and  temptation,  every  labor 
done  for  Christ,  every  prayer  of  faith,  every  patient  bear- 
ing of  Christ's  Cross,  is  a  pledge  that  the  soul  is  advancing 
to  that  consummation  in  glory.  Every  co-operation  of 
the  children  of  God  with  Christ,  is  a  pledge  that  Christ  is 
wrorking  in  them  and  with  them,  preparing  them  for  this 
mighty  revelation,  when  they  are  to  shine  out  like  the  sun 
in  the  firmament,  at  his  coming,  his  appearing,  his  king- 
dom. O  what  an  inducement  to  a  life  of  holiness  is  here, 
what  animating  encouragement  to  every  effort,  and  what 
infinite  obligation  for  such  effort  laid  upon  the  soul ! 

And  on  the  other  hand  for  those  that  are  out  of  Christ, 
voluntary  strangers  to  his  grace,  the  period  of  his  appear- 
ing will  be  an  era  of  ruin,  of  loss,  of  misery,  of  completed 
destruction,  as  tremendous  and  terrific,  as  for  those  who 
wear  the  image  of  Christ,  it  is  to  be  an  era  of  glory  sur- 
passing all  imagination.  Then,  too,  shall  the  wicked 
appear  in  the  likeness  of  Satan.  But  over  that  world  we 
let  the  veil  drop,  for  thither  the  windings  of  the  River  of 
Life  run  not.  Let  every  soul  hasten  to  Christ,  to  be 
washed  in  his  blood  and  sanctified.  AND  UNTO  HIM  THAT 
IS  ABLE  TO  KEEP  YOU  FROM  FALLING,  AND  TO  PRESENT  YOU 
FAULTLESS  BEFORE  THE  PRESENCE  OF  HIS  GLORY  WITH  EX- 
CEEDING JOY,  TO  THE  ONLY  WISE  GoD  OUR  SAVIOUR,  BE  GLORY 
AND  MAJESTY,  DOMINION  AND  POWER,  fcOTII  NOW  AND  EVER. 
AMEN. 

ITT 


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